Decision fusion in mobile wireless sensor networks using cooperative multiple symbol differential space time coding

In this article, we propose a cooperative scheme for differential space-time codes (DSTCs) to be applied for mobile wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in order to mitigate multipath fading effect. We assume that sensors make independent local decisions about the existing hypothesis and report their decisions to a fusion center, where the final decision is made. Sensors are divided into groups with two sensors each, where sensors in each pair cooperate to send their decisions as a DSTC. Differential modulation scheme, which does not require knowledge of the instantaneous fading gains, is considered to avoid the channel estimation overhead at the cooperating sensors and the fusion center. Channels between sensors and the fusion center are assumed independent identically distributed (i.i.d) Rayleigh fading channels. Moreover, Jakes-Clarkes’ channel model is considered to model the mobility of sensors and/or the fusion center. Since the complexity of the optimal fusion rule grows up exponentially with the observation interval, suboptimal fusion rules are derived and discussed. Finally, simulation results of the proposed cooperative scheme are provided and the detection capabilities of the derived decision fusion rules are compared.     

Fusion of censored decisions in wireless sensor networks

Sensor censoring has been introduced for reduced communication rate in a decentralized detection system where decisions made at peripheral nodes need to be communicated to a fusion center. In this letter, the fusion of decisions from censoring sensors transmitted over wireless fading channels is investigated. The knowledge of fading channels, either in the form of instantaneous channel envelopes or the fading statistics, is integrated in the optimum and suboptimum fusion rule design. The sensor censoring and the ensuing fusion rule design have two major advantages compared with the previous work. 1) Communication overhead is dramatically reduced. 2) It allows incoherent detection, hence, the phase information of transmission channels is no longer required. As such, it is particularly suitable for wireless sensor network applications with severe resource constraints.     

A combined decision fusion and channel coding scheme for distributed fault-tolerant classification in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we consider the distributed classification problem in wireless sensor networks. Local decisions made by local sensors, possibly in the presence of faults, are transmitted to a fusion center through fading channels. Classification performance could be degraded due to the errors caused by both sensor faults and fading channels. Integrating channel decoding into the distributed fault-tolerant classification fusion algorithm, we obtain a new fusion rule that combines both soft-decision decoding and local decision rules without introducing any redundancy. The soft decoding scheme is utilized to combat channel fading, while the distributed classification fusion structure using error correcting codes provides good sensor fault-tolerance capability. Asymptotic performance of the proposed approach is also investigated. Performance evaluation of the proposed approach with both sensor faults and fading channel impairments is carried out. These results show that the proposed approach outperforms the system employing the MAP fusion rule designed without regard to sensor faults and the multiclass equal gain combining fusion rule     

On the optimality of the likelihood-ratio test for local sensor decision rules in the presence of nonideal channels

Distributed detection has been intensively studied in the past. In this correspondence, we consider the design of local decision rules in the presence of nonideal transmission channels between the sensors and the fusion center. Under the conditional independence assumption among multiple sensor observations, we show that the optimal local decisions that minimize the error probability at the fusion center amount to a likelihood-ratio test (LRT) given a particular constraint on the fusion rule. This constraint turns out to be quite general and is easily satisfied for most sensible fusion rules. A design example using a parallel sensor fusion structure with binary-symmetric channels (BSCs) between local sensors and the fusion center is given to illustrate the usefulness of the result in obtaining optimal thresholds for local sensor observations. The study that incorporates the transmission channel in the sensor system design may have potential applications in the emerging field of wireless sensor networks.     

认知无线电网络中基于最大似然准则的协同频谱检测算法研究

提出一种集中式频谱协同检测算法。各认知节点采用能量检测算法,然后使用最大似然准则进行本地判决,且把似然比作为本地判决可靠性的度量;中心节点基于可信度对接收到的认知节点本地检测数据进行数据融合。仿真结果显示,文中提出的认知节点协同频谱检测方案能够减少误检概率。特别是当信道处于深衰落时,少量节点参与协同就能获得较好的检测性能。     

Maximum multipath diversity with linear equalization in precoded OFDM systems

In wireless communications, the fading multipath channel attenuates and distorts the transmitted signal. To decode the transmitted symbols and take advantage of the full multipath diversity that the channel has to offer, computationally complex maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding is often employed. We show that a linear equalizer followed by a hard decision is capable of benefiting from maximum multipath diversity in linearly precoded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, where the information symbols are mapped through a matrix transformation before the inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) at the OFDM transmitter. As far as we are aware, this is the first proof of a linear equalization scheme achieving maximum multipath diversity over single-input single-output wireless links. We can conclude from this result that at sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), precoded OFDM systems will perform better over channels with more taps even with linear equalization, due to the increase in diversity order.     

协作分集在Wimax中的应用研究

采用空间分集技术可以有效的对抗无线信道中的衰落。协作分集是一种新的空间分集技术，其原理是单天线的无线用户通过协作，811227共享他们的天线和资源从而形成一个虚拟的多天线系统。OFDM是Wimax中的关键技术，其将数据调制到各个子载波上发送。将协作分集引入到Wimax系统中，利用OFDM技术，可以有效地抵抗信道频率选择衰落的影响，使系统性能得到显著提高。     

正交频分复用技术在协作通信下的应用

协作分集技术利用其他用户进行协作传输,可以获得一定的分集增益,但是在频率选择性衰落信道下性能不很乐观。为了对抗频率选择性衰落,采用正交频分复用(ODFM)技术与协作分集技术相结合的方法,研究了基于OFDM技术的协作通信,对在不同调制技术、不同信道估计方法下系统的性能进行了比较,为了进一步提高系统性能,对传统S&C算法进行了改进并应用于该系统中,仿真实验结果表明,改进的定时同步算法性能优于传统的S&C算法。     

J‐divergence‐based Power Allocation in Wireless Sensor Networks with Distributed Detection under Correlated Noises

In this paper, the power allocation problem in a wireless sensor network (WSN) with binary distributed detection is considered. It is assumed that the sensors independently transmit their local decisions to a fusion center (FC) through a slow fading orthogonal multiple access channel (OMAC), where, in every channel, the interferences from other devices are considered as correlated noises. In this channel, the associated power allocation optimization problem with equal power constraint is established between statistical distributions under different hypotheses by using the Jeffrey divergence (J‐divergence) as a performance criterion. It is shown that this criterion for the power allocation problem is more efficient compared to other criteria such as mean square error (MSE). Moreover, several numerical simulations and examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

衰落信道下基于中继选择与功率控制的节能协作通信

In order to save energy and make more efficient use of wireless channel, this article puts forward an energy saving cooperative relaying scheme which actuates the cooperative transmission only when the feedback from the destination indicates failure of the direct transmission. The proposed scheme selects the optimal relay and its corresponding transmission power in each time slot based on channel condition and residual energy with the objective of minimizing energy consumption and extending network lifetime. In the study, the finitestate Markov channel model is used to characterize the correlation structure of channel fading in wireless networks, and the procedure of relay selection and transmission power decision is formulated as a Markov decision process. Numerical and simulation results show that the proposed scheme consumes less energy and prolongs the network lifetime.     

An efficient space-frequency coded OFDM system for broadband wireless communications

We propose an efficient space-frequency coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system for high-speed transmission over wireless links. The analytical expression for the pairwise probability of the proposed space-frequency coded OFDM system is derived in slow, space- and frequency-selective fading channels. The design criteria of trellis codes used in the proposed system are then developed and discussed. It is shown that the proposed space-frequency coded OFDM can efficiently achieve the full diversity provided by the fading channel with low trellis complexity, while for traditional space-frequency coded OFDM systems, we need to design space-time trellis codes with high trellis complexity to exploit the maximum achievable diversity order. The capacity properties of space-frequency coded OFDM over multipath fading channels are also studied. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the significant performance improvement obtained by the proposed space-frequency coded OFDM scheme, as well as the excellent outage capacity properties.     

Decentralized detection in sensor networks

In this paper, we investigate a binary decentralized detection problem in which a network of wireless sensors provides relevant information about the state of nature to a fusion center. Each sensor transmits its data over a multiple access channel. Upon reception of the information, the fusion center attempts to accurately reconstruct the state of nature. We consider the scenario where the sensor network is constrained by the capacity of the wireless channel over which the sensors are transmitting, and we study the structure of an optimal sensor configuration. For the problem of detecting deterministic signals in additive Gaussian noise, we show that having a set of identical binary sensors is asymptotically optimal, as the number of observations per sensor goes to infinity. Thus, the gain offered by having more sensors exceeds the benefits of getting detailed information from each sensor. A thorough analysis of the Gaussian case is presented along with some extensions to other observation distributions.     

基于网络编码的系统中断性能分析

在无线通信中,信道的衰落会降低信号传输的可靠性,影响通信质量。协同分集技术作为一种对抗衰落的有效手段,能提高无线通信性能,已经得到了广泛的研究和应用。为了更有效地利用信道资源,本文提出了基于机会式网络编码的协同机制。在两个节点A和B与一个中继节点R相互协同向基站D发送数据的仿真场景下,研究非协同通信机制、传统协同通信机制和机会式网络编码的协同通信机制下的系统中断概率。理论分析和系统仿真表明,当节点A与B之间的链路以及节点A,B到中继R的链路存在衰落的情况下,机会式网络编码的协同策略具有较好的性能。      

Channel aware decision fusion in wireless sensor networks

Information fusion by utilizing multiple distributed sensors is studied in this work. Extending the classical parallel fusion structure by incorporating the fading channel layer that is omnipresent in wireless sensor networks, we derive the likelihood ratio based fusion rule given fixed local decision devices. This optimum fusion rule, however, requires perfect knowledge of the local decision performance indices as well as the fading channel. To address this issue, two alternative fusion schemes, namely, the maximum ratio combining statistic and a two-stage approach using the Chair-Varshney fusion rule, are proposed that alleviate these requirements and are shown to be the low and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) equivalents of the likelihood-based fusion rule. To further robustify the fusion rule and motivated by the maximum ratio combining statistics, we also propose a statistic analogous to an equal gain combiner that requires minimum a priori information. Performance evaluation is performed both analytically and through simulation.     

Bio-Inspired Sensor Network Design

The goal of this article is to show how a simple self-synchronization mechanism, borrowed from biological systems, can form the basic tool for achieving globally optimal distributed decisions in a wireless sensor network with no need for a fusion center. After describing the basic interaction mechanism among the network nodes, the conditions are illustrated guaranteeing the convergence of each node to a global (or local) consensus coinciding with the globally (locally) optimal decision statistics. The interaction mechanism takes into account the physical channel parameters, such as fading coefficients and propagation delays. Then the results are illustrated through examples of distributed estimation and multiple hypothesis testing. The energy consumption issues are addressed and discuss some possible implementations     

在OFDM系统中用循环前缀对时变色散信道进行估计

目前，正交频分复用（OFDM）技术困能在无线时变信道中进行高速数据传输而受到广泛的关注。在相干的OFDM系统中，接收机能否获得准确的信道状态信息（CSI）是系统性能提高的关键。为了能在接收端获得准确的CSI和提高系统的传输速率，文中将文献[3]的算法由单路发射推广为I/Q两路发射，采用复抽头系数的FIR滤波器对多径衰落信道进行建模，并用通常被丢弃的循环前缀作为训练序列对信道进行估计和均衡，仿真结果表明改进的算法在相同的子数和子载波和比文献[3]传输效率提高一倍的情况下能有效地自动跟踪信道的变化。     

An Innovative Cooperative Spectrum Sensing Algorithm with Non-ideal Feedback Channels and Delay Considerations

Cognitive radio (CR) is used to overcome the spectrum scarcity problem, which results from fixed allocation of wireless bands. CR allows the unlicensed secondary users to exploit the idle spectrum, which is not occupied by any licensed primary user (PU), thus increasing the overall spectrum utilization. In this paper, we first propose a simple cooperative sensing algorithm, which combines the local decision at each CR along with a group decision received from a fusion center to produce a collective decision on the existence of the PU. The performance of the algorithm is investigated over ideal and non-ideal reporting channels, from the fusion center to the CR devices, both analytically and via simulations. Furthermore, the effect of cooperation delay, which causes the decisions received by the CR device from the fusion center to be outdated, is extensively studied, both analytically and via simulations. To overcome the significant performance degradation due to the effect of delay, an extra local sensing cycle is performed at the CR side upon reception of the group decision. Results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the conventional hard decisions technique and exhibits a comparable performance to the soft decisions approach at a considerably lower complexity. Moreover, the algorithm is shown to enjoy more robustness against reporting channel errors than the conventional hard decisions-based algorithm. Finally, the extra sensing cycle is shown to dramatically improve the performance for different delay scenarios.     

Cooperative Protocols Design for Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks with Multi-hop Routing

Wireless ad-hoc networks can experience significant performance degradation under fading channels. Spatial diversity has been shown to be an effective way of combating wireless fading with the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique by transmitting correlated information through multiple antennas. The virtual MIMO technique, which allows multiple wireless stations with single antenna to form a virtual transmission array, is shown to be a viable solution from several recent studies. In this paper, we propose a complete system framework for wireless ad-hoc networks utilizing two different cooperative relaying techniques at the physical layer: the repetition coding and the space-time coding. In the data link layer, two medium access control protocols are proposed to accommodate the corresponding physical layer cooperative diversity schemes. In the network layer, diversity-aware routing protocols are proposed to determine the routing path and the relaying topology. Simulations with both constant bit rate and TCP (transmission control protocol) traffic show significant performance gains of the proposed cooperative relaying schemes.     

Cooperative diversity performance for OFDM transmission over partially jammed channels

Cooperative diversity is a transmission technique, where multiple terminals share their resources to form a virtual antenna array that realizes spatial diversity gain in a distributed fashion. In this paper, we focus on a performance evaluation for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission in cooperative networks under partial-band jamming (PBJ) environments. We present a bit error rate (BER) analysis for a cooperative diversity system with amplifying-and-forward (AF) relays over partially jammed Rayleigh fading channels. In addition, a simple jamming mitigation technique, called relay-based sub-band shifting method, is proposed. Through this approach, each sub-band of the amplified OFDM symbol at the relay can be changed by the predefined shifting rule of each relay, and the jamming effects at the destination are partially removed. Simulation results show that the proposed method improves significantly the BER performance at a low signal-to-jamming ratio.     

Linear constellation precoding for OFDM with maximum multipath diversity and coding gains

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) converts a frequency-selective fading channel into parallel flat-fading subchannels, thereby simplifying channel equalization and symbol decoding. However, OFDM's performance suffers from the loss of multipath diversity, and the inability to guarantee symbol detectability when channel s occur. We introduce a linear constellation precoded OFDM for wireless transmissions over frequency-selective fading channels. Exploiting the correlation structure of subchannels and choosing system parameters properly, we first perform an optimal subcarrier grouping to divide the set of subchannels into subsets. Within each subset, a linear constellation-specific precoder is then designed to maximize both diversity and coding gains. While greatly reducing the decoding complexity and simplifying the precoder design, subcarrier grouping enables the maximum possible diversity and coding gains. In addition to reduced complexity, the proposed system guarantees symbol detectability regardless of channel s, and does not reduce the transmission rate. Analytic evaluation and corroborating simulations reveal its performance merits.