Maximal Lifetime Rate and Power Allocation for Sensor Networks With Data Distortion Constraints

The authors address a lifetime maximization problem for a single-hop wireless sensor network where multiple sensors encode and communicate their measurements of a Gaussian random source to a Fusion Centre (FC). The FC is required to reconstruct the source within a prescribed distortion threshold. The lifetime optimization problem is formulated as a joint power, rate and time-slot (for TDMA) allocation problem under the constraints of the well known rate distortion constraints for the Gaussian CEO problem, the capacity constraints of the wireless links, the energy constraints of the sensor nodes and the strict delay constraint within which the encoded sensor data must arrive at the FC.