Fault-Resilient Distributed Detection and Estimation Over a SW-WSN Using LCMV Beamforming

Abstract

Recent technology advancement has resulted in optimistic view toward the practicability of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in the context of Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). However, to realize their full benefits in a broad range of commercial applications, there are still many technical hitches that need to be overcome. In this paper, we address three vital technical issues in a WSN: (1) distributed event detection, (2) distributed parameter estimation, and (3) network's robustness. We make use of a recent development in social networks called small world characteristics and propose novel fault-resilient distributed detection and estimation methods over a small world WSN (SW-WSN). In particular, a small world WSN has been developed by mounting antenna arrays on sensor nodes for the purpose of beamforming. A low-complexity optimization problem for beamforming is formulated by introducing a new parameter Flow between node pairs. Additionally, a new beamforming algorithm is also proposed which optimizes this flow, leading to optimal beam parameters. The proposed method yields a lower average path length and a higher average clustering coefficient of the network. Experiments are conducted using simulations and real node deployments over a WSN testbed. Analysis and experimental results obtained demonstrate that the proposed SW-WSN model achieves faster convergence rates for both distributed detection and distributed estimation while being resilient to node failures when compared to results obtained using state-of-the-art methods.