Robust Distributed Collaborative Beamforming for Wireless Sensor Networks with Channel Estimation Impairments

We propose a new collaborative beamforming (CB) solution robust (i.e., RCB) against major channel estimation impairments over dual-hop transmissions through a wireless sensor network (WSN) of K nodes. The source first sends its signal to the WSN. Then, each node forwards its received signal after multiplying it by a properly selected beamforming weight. The latter aims to minimize the received noise power while maintaining the desired power equal to unity. These weights depend on some channel state information (CSI) parameters. Hence, they have to be estimated locally at each node, thereby, resulting in channel estimation errors that could severely hinder CB performance. Exploiting an efficient asymptotic approximation at large K, we develop alternative RCB solutions that adapt to different implementation scenarios and wireless propagation environments ranging from monochromatic (i.e., scattering-free) to polychromatic (i.e., scattered) ones. Besides, in contrast to existing techniques, our new RCB solutions are distributed (i.e., DCB) in that they do not require any information exchange among nodes, thereby dramatically improving both WSN spectral and power efficiencies. Simulation results confirm that the proposed robust DCB (RDCB) techniques are much more robust in terms of achieved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) against channel estimation errors than best representative CB benchmarks.