Aerial and terrestrial communication methods do not work well underwater. Therefore, none of the available communication protocols could be easily exported under the sea surface to work with and enhance capabilities of new game-changing robotic technologies. That is why the NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), based in La Spezia (Italy), has started about ten years ago to develop a digital underwater coding standard aimed at providing a baseline common denominator for underwater acoustic communications. It is called JANUS and it has been now recognised as a NATO standard, called a STANAG for Standardisation Agreement, by all the NATO Nations. This marks the first time ever for a digital underwater communication protocol to be acknowledged at international level, and it opens the way for a standardised Internet of Underwater Things.
