Considering the characteristics of low communication bandwidth and high energy consumption of nodes in underwater acoustic sensor networks(UWASNs)
a multi-path routing protocol based on network coding(MRNC) is presented.MRNC creates more network coding opportunities for data transmission through dynamic switching over main links and backup links during the process of routing
which in turn optimizes the network bandwidth utilization rate
and reduces the energy consumption caused by retransmission of redundant packets.Simulation results demonstrate that MRNC can improve the network throughput as well as reduce energy consumption in UWASNs.