Relay Selection for Over-the-Air Computation Achieving Both Long Lifetime and High Reliability

Area of Science:

• Wireless Sensor Networks
• Communication Systems
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Conventional wireless sensor networks face scalability issues with increasing node counts, leading to longer data collection/processing times and degraded spectrum efficiency.
• Over-the-air computation (AirComp) offers an efficient alternative for statistical data aggregation but struggles with low channel gain nodes, causing high transmission power and computation errors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate relay communication strategies for AirComp to address challenges posed by low channel gain nodes.
• To develop and evaluate a relay selection protocol that jointly optimizes computation error and power consumption, while considering network lifetime.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a relay selection protocol for AirComp, initially selecting ordinary nodes with good channel conditions based on computation error and power consumption.
• Enhanced the protocol to explicitly incorporate network lifetime considerations into the relay selection process.

Main Results:

• The proposed relay selection protocol effectively mitigates issues associated with low channel gain nodes in AirComp systems.
• Simulation results demonstrate that the enhanced protocol significantly prolongs the overall network lifetime.
• The method also shows a marked reduction in computation errors compared to conventional approaches.

Conclusions:

• Relay communication is a viable strategy to enhance the performance of AirComp in wireless sensor networks.
• The developed relay selection protocol offers a practical solution for improving network lifetime and accuracy in AirComp systems.
• Explicitly considering network lifetime in relay selection is crucial for sustainable and efficient wireless sensor network operation.