Title: Decentralised binary detection with non-constant SNR profile at the sensors

Authors: Gianluigi Ferrari, Roberto Pagliari, Marco Martalo

Addresses: Wireless Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks (WASN) Laboratory, Information Engineering Department, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. ' Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. ' Wireless Ad-hoc and Sensor Networks (WASN) Laboratory, Information Engineering Department, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

Abstract: In this paper, we consider the problem of decentralised binary detection in sensor networks characterised by non-constant observation Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs) at the sensors. In general, SNRs at the sensors could have a generic non-constant distribution. In order to analyse the performance of these decentralised detection schemes, we introduce the concept of sensor SNR profile, and we consider four possible profiles (linear, quadratic, cubic and hyperbolic) as representative of a large number of realistic scenarios. Furthermore, we show how the impact of communication noise in the links between the sensors and the Access Point (AP) depends on the sensor SNR profile (i.e. the spatial distribution of the observation noise). More precisely, different sensor SNR profiles are compared under two alternative assumptions: (i) common maximum sensor SNR or (ii) common average sensor SNR. Finally, we propose an asymptotic (for a large number of sensors) performance analysis, deriving a simple expression for the limiting probability of decision error. We validate our theoretical analysis with experimental results.

Keywords: decentralised detection; sensor networks; signal-to-noise Ratio; sensor SNR profile; noisy communication links; decision errors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2008.019249

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2008 Vol.4 No.1/2, pp.23 - 36

Published online: 04 Jul 2008 *

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