A Joint Framework of IMM-LSTM-C Tracking and IBPDO-Based Node Selection for Energy-Efficient Cooperative Tracking in Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

The increasing deployment of underwater vehicles demands accurate and energy-efficient target tracking in sensor networks. However, existing approaches have largely addressed tracking accuracy and energy efficiency in isolation, and a system-level framework that jointly optimizes both remains lacking. To address this gap, this paper proposes a joint optimization framework with two main contributions. First, to improve tracking accuracy under complex maneuvering conditions, we develop an Interactive Multi-Model using Long Short-Term Memory Classification (IMM-LSTM-C) algorithm, which integrates multi-step model likelihoods into an LSTM network for precise motion classification, achieving a 7.1% accuracy improvement over IMM-BP. Second, to reduce network energy consumption while maintaining tracking performance, we introduce an Improved Binary Prairie Dog Optimization (IBPDO) algorithm for node selection, enhanced with Cauchy mutation and opposition-based learning. Simulation results show that IBPDO achieves 6.1–8.2% higher accuracy than BWOA and reduces energy consumption by 12% compared to LNS. Furthermore, the complete joint framework demonstrates synergistic effects, reducing tracking error by 19.3% and energy consumption by 15.4% over the IMM + LNS baseline. The proposed framework provides an effective balance between tracking accuracy and energy efficiency in underwater acoustic sensor networks.