Collaborative reception technique in wireless sensor networks using adaptive antennas

Abstract

This work describes a new collaborative reception strategy designed to improve the performance and transmission capacity of the nodes of a wireless sensor network. The technique involves the use of a linear array of adaptive antennas, consisting of a set of sensors that operate in a collaborative manner as an adaptive spatial processor. It can be characterized as a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) system and exploits the spatial diversity of the sensors, which significantly improves performance in terms of energy consumption and transmission capacity. The principles of the proposed scheme are presented, together with bit error rate (BER) performance curves. The advantage of the technique is that it enables several sensors to transmit at very low powers, hence reducing energy consumption.