## 1 Introduction  
Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSN) is an important research field devoted to providing scalable and flexible platforms for a wide range of underwater applications. Some of these applications are related to oceanic monitoring, underwater positioning, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) [1]. Currently, there are three main technologies capable of operating in underwater environments: Underwater Acoustic Communication (UAC), Underwater Wireless Optical Communication (UWOC), and Underwater Radio Frequency Communication (URFC). Traditionally, underwater wireless communication has been carried out using pressure waves. UAC is a very well-studied topic in which information is transmitted using acoustic signals which propagate long distances (kilometers) through seawater. The low losses that the medium presents produce severe multi-path responses (several reflections on both seabed and surface), reducing the coherence bandwidth and hence the maximum achievable data rate [2]. Furthermore, the underwater acoustic channel suffers from saturation, a significant human-generated noise background level, and the possibility of harming cetaceans if the used carrier frequencies are below 200-300 KHz [3]. UWOC provides very high data rates at short or medium distances (up to 100 m approximately) [4, 5], and the link quality greatly depends on the alignment between endpoints. Nonetheless, these misalignment restrictions are more relaxed than expected thanks to scattering [6]. The exponential losses due to light-matter interaction limit the use of this technology to a few meters in UWSN applications (and depends on the working wavelength). Moreover, the optical emission is generally confined to a reduced solid angle, usually limiting the potential network-associated graphs to directed ones [7]. Nevertheless, some authors have tried to overpass this limitation by emulating isotropic radiation using angular diversity techniques at the nodes [8]. This solution reduces cost-efficiency, increases the node's intelligence complexity, and finally shortens the node's lifespan due to the excess energy consumption. The use of ElectroMagnetic (EM) signals to establish underwater communication links is a promising field of study. There are two main techniques within this broad technology. On the one hand, terrestrial Radio Frequency (RF) systems can be adapted to underwater environments. However, in this case, communication relies mainly on the electric field, suffering from very high attenuation due to the loss tangent of seawater and Doppler spread [9]. This dramatically limits both link range and data rate. On the other hand, Magnetic Induction (MI) provides higher robustness, allows higher bandwidth (up to Mbps), and it primarily depends on the seabed's conductivity [10]. This work focuses on the latter, and the associated propagation model will be more in-depth analyzed in Section 4. UWSN communication protocols determine several capital aspects of the network performance, such as throughput, packet delay, robustness, and the network's lifespan. JANUS, which is currently the most adopted communications standard in UAC, was motivated by the necessity of inter-operability between manufacturers [11]. Nonetheless, the specifications of JANUS may not be applicable to other technologies, since they were designed taking into account the underwater acoustic channel behaviour. On the other hand, STANAG 5066 is a military communication standard (STANdard AGreement 5066) focused on optimising low-throughput and low-reliability communications. It is one of the most common and widely used High Frequency (HF) communication protocols for military applications. These characteristics turn this protocol into a serious candidate for EM-URFC UWSN applications. The simulation of UWSNs has been traditionally carried out using network-level platforms with simplified Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers.