Handbook on Array Processing and Sensor Networks

CHAPTER 15

Energy-Efficient Decentralized Estimation

Jin-Jun Xiao¹, Shuguang Cui², and Zhi-Quan Luo¹

¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

²Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

15.1 INTRODUCTION

A major design challenge in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is the hard energy constraint. Since sensors have only small-size batteries whose replacement is costly if not impossible, sensor network operations must be energy efficient in order to prolong network lifespan [1]. In fact, a main objective of current sensor network research is to design energy-efficient devices and algorithms to support various aspects of network operations. The μAMPs project [2] at MIT and the PicoRadio project [3] at Berkeley focus on energy-constrained radios and their impact on ultra-low-power sensing and networking. Various energy-efficient algorithms have been proposed for network coverage [4], data gathering [5], and protocols of medium access control [6] and routing [7] (see also the survey work [8] and the references therein). These research activities focus on collaborative strategies and cross-layer designs for distributed data collection, processing, and communication in an energy-efficient manner.

In this chapter we focus on energy-efficient distributed estimation in WSNs. The distributed ...