Parameter Estimation in Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Decisions Transmitted over Rayleigh Fading Channels
Zhenxing Luo

Zhenxing Luo, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Manuscript received on January 01, 2013. | Revised Manuscript received on January 02, 2013. | Manuscript published on January 05, 2013. | PP: 42-45 | Volume-2, Issue-6, January 2013. | Retrieval Number: F1086112612/2013©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: In this paper, we present a distributed estimation method in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) based on decisions transmitted over Rayleigh fading channels. The fusion centre can uses either coherent receiver or non-coherent receiver to acquire decisions transmitted over Rayleigh fading channels. The estimation method using coherent receiver and the estimation method using non-coherent receiver are presented and the Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) are derived. Simulation results showed that in ideal situations, the RMS errors given by the distributed estimation method were close to the CRLB. Moreover, simulation results highlighted the importance of the number of sensors, channel SNR, and accurate channel SNR information known to the fusion centre on estimation performance.
Keywords: Wireless sensor networks, maximum likelihood estimation, distributed estimation, Cramer-Rao lower bound, Rayleigh fading channel.