Distributed Detection with Non-Identical Sensors: Fusion in the Air or at the Receiver?

In this research paper, fusion in the air (FIA) and fusion at the receiver (FAR) – two different approaches of multi-hypotheses distributed detection for wireless sensor networks with decision fusion center (DFC) – are investigated. The DFC is equipped with multiple antennas, whereas each of the sensors has a single antenna. The performance of these schemes is evaluated in two different scenarios; with identical sensors and non-identical sensors, in terms of their detection capabilities. For a global event, identical sensors observe an equal number of hypotheses, whereas the number of hypotheses detected by the non-identical sensors can be different. When all the sensors in the network are identical, the FIA based technique has a higher detection probability in transmit power constrained situations. However, the FAR scheme performs better when the transmit power budget is higher. Additionally, in the network with non-identical wireless sensors, the FAR based technique is unable to exploit the benefits from the local decisions of the low capability sensors. Therefore the FAR scheme has a lower detection probability than the FIA based approach.