Distributed transmit beamforming: Data funneling in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, utilizing data funneling and distributed beamforming, we propose a novel cooperative cross-layer transmission scheme to reduce the transmit energy of sensor nodes while communicating over long distances in a wireless sensor network. We show that the proposed transmission scheme requires less transmit energy, compared to direct beamforming and direct single link transmission, to achieve the same symbol error probability (SEP) at the receiver. Considering battery energy consumption, we show that our proposed transmission scheme is capable of increasing the life time of sensor nodes that need to communicate over long distances. We also show improved performance in terms of a routing metric.