Energy efficiency of some non-cooperative, cooperative and hybrid communication schemes in multi-relay WSNs

In this paper we analyze the energy efficiency of single-hop, multi-hop, cooperative selective decode-and-forward, cooperative incremental decode-and-forward, and even the combination of cooperative and non-cooperative schemes, in wireless sensor networks composed of several nodes. We assume that, as the sensor nodes can experience either non line-of-sight or some line-of-sight conditions, the Nakagami-m fading distribution is used to model the wireless environment. The energy efficiency analysis is constrained by a target outage probability and an end-to-end throughput. Our results show that in most scenarios cooperative incremental schemes are more energy efficient than the other methods

Multi-hop Diffusion LMS for Energy-constrained Distributed Estimation

We propose a multi-hop diffusion strategy for a sensor network to perform distributed least mean-squares (LMS) estimation under local and network-wide energy constraints. At each iteration of the strategy, each node can combine intermediate parameter estimates from nodes other than its physical neighbors via a multi-hop relay path. We propose a rule to select combination weights for the multi-hop neighbors, which can balance between the transient and the steady-state network mean-square deviations (MSDs). We study two classes of networks: simple networks with a unique transmission path from one node to another, and arbitrary networks utilizing diffusion consultations over at most two hops. We propose a method to optimize each node's information neighborhood subject to local energy budgets and a network-wide energy budget for each diffusion iteration. This optimization requires the network topology, and the noise and data variance profiles of each node, and is performed offline before the diffusion process. In addition, we develop a fully distributed and adaptive algorithm that approximately optimizes the information neighborhood of each node with only local energy budget constraints in the case where diffusion consultations are performed over at most a predefined number of hops. Numerical results suggest that our proposed multi-hop diffusion strategy achieves the same steady-state MSD as the existing one-hop adapt-then-combine diffusion algorithm but with a lower energy budget.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. Submitted for publicatio

Principles of Physical Layer Security in Multiuser Wireless Networks: A Survey

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the domain of physical layer security in multiuser wireless networks. The essential premise of physical-layer security is to enable the exchange of confidential messages over a wireless medium in the presence of unauthorized eavesdroppers without relying on higher-layer encryption. This can be achieved primarily in two ways: without the need for a secret key by intelligently designing transmit coding strategies, or by exploiting the wireless communication medium to develop secret keys over public channels. The survey begins with an overview of the foundations dating back to the pioneering work of Shannon and Wyner on information-theoretic security. We then describe the evolution of secure transmission strategies from point-to-point channels to multiple-antenna systems, followed by generalizations to multiuser broadcast, multiple-access, interference, and relay networks. Secret-key generation and establishment protocols based on physical layer mechanisms are subsequently covered. Approaches for secrecy based on channel coding design are then examined, along with a description of inter-disciplinary approaches based on game theory and stochastic geometry. The associated problem of physical-layer message authentication is also introduced briefly. The survey concludes with observations on potential research directions in this area.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 303 refs. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1303.1609 by other authors. IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, 201

Resource Allocation in Wireless Networks with RF Energy Harvesting and Transfer

Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and transfer techniques have recently become alternative methods to power the next generation of wireless networks. As this emerging technology enables proactive replenishment of wireless devices, it is advantageous in supporting applications with quality-of-service (QoS) requirement. This article focuses on the resource allocation issues in wireless networks with RF energy harvesting capability, referred to as RF energy harvesting networks (RF-EHNs). First, we present an overview of the RF-EHNs, followed by a review of a variety of issues regarding resource allocation. Then, we present a case study of designing in the receiver operation policy, which is of paramount importance in the RF-EHNs. We focus on QoS support and service differentiation, which have not been addressed by previous literatures. Furthermore, we outline some open research directions.Comment: To appear in IEEE Networ

Relay selection methods for maximizing the lifetime of wireless sensor networks

Combined analytical and fuzzy techniques are proposed for improving the battery lifetime, performance, as well as energy efficiency of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with the aid of efficient relay selection methods. We determine the best relay selection method by striking an appealing performance versus network lifetime trade-off. Furthermore, the beneficial regions of cooperation are determined considering asymmetric traffic scenarios, where relaying provides energy saving