Bandwidth constrained distributed estimation for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Abstract The focus of this paper is power constrained in wireless sensor networks. We purpose an adaptive transmit power levels based on sensors noise variance and channel conditions. We also investigate its impact on energy saving. First, the measurement results of the sensors are quantized into discrete messages. Second, the quantized data are transmitted to the fusion center where a final estimate is generated. The optimal transmit power levels for each sensor is determined by the sensor noise levels and channels conditions from sensor to the fusion center. The goal is minimized the total transmitting power, while ensuring a given Mean Squared Error (MSE) performance. The sensor will be active when the measurement results of the sensors have low noises variances and the condition of the channel between the sensor and the FC is good and if the conditions are otherwise the sensor is not active with the aim of saving power. For the remaining active sensors, their optimal transmit power levels are determined jointly by individual channels gain, local observation noise variance sensor and the targeted MSE performance. Numerical examples show that an adaptive power levels achieves significantly smaller MSE than uniform power levels for the same average power consumption.