Distributed Detection in a Wireless Sensor Network Using Hybrid MAC

In this paper, distributed detection is investigated in a wireless sensor network (WSN) using the hybrid multiple-access channel (MAC) which is a composite of orthogonal and nonorthogonal MACs. Specifically, a simple ideal sensing (IS) fusion rule is proposed, and the corresponding detection error probability upper bound and approximate system outage probability are analytically derived. Performance results show that the IS fusion rule provides nearly minimum detection error probability under high sensor observation signal-to-noise power ratios, and offers a diversity gain in system outage probability which is equal to the number of orthogonal channels. Moreover, the hybrid MAC WSN with IS fusion rule is shown to provide more performance choices than orthogonal and nonorthogonal MAC WSNs with IS fusion rule in terms of detection error probability and system outage probability.