Distributed detection in UWB sensor networks under non-orthogonal Nakagami-m fading

Several attractive features of ultra wideband (UWB) communications make it a good candidate for physical-layer of wireless sensor networks (WSN). These features include low power consumption, low complexity and low cost of implementation. In this paper, we present an opportunistic power assignment strategy for distributed detection in parallel fusion WSNs, considering a Nakagami-m fading model for the communication channel and time-hopping (TH) UWB for the transmitter circuit of the sensor nodes. In a parallel fusion WSN, local decisions are made by local sensors and transmitted through wireless channels to a fusion center. The fusion center processes the information and makes the final decision. Simulation results are provided for the global probability of detection error and relative performance gain to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed power assignment strategy in different fading environments. © 2011 IEEE.