A lower bound to the scaling behavior of sensor networks

For a class of sensor networks, the task is to monitor an underlying physical phenomenon over space and time through a noisy observation process. The sensors can communicate back to a data collector over a noisy channel. The key parameters in such a setting are the fidelity at which the underlying physical phenomenon can be estimated by a central data collector, and the cost of operating the communication network. This paper presents a lower bound to the scaling behavior of sensor networks