Simultaneous distributed carrier synchronization and data transmission in wireless sensor networks

Collaborative beamforming is a promising technique for improving energy efficiency of uplink communications in wireless sensor networks. It is based on the fact that, if carrier phases of individual sensor nodes are synchronized precisely enough, sensor nodes can jointly form a beampattern with stable mainlobe. In this paper, we analyze the bit error rate performance of such collaborative transmission. In particular, we consider a decentralized antenna array where sensors are allowed to perform distributed carrier synchronization and collaborative data transmission simultaneously. We evaluate the system performance by using numerical simulations and provide a semianalytical solution for the overall bit error rate as a function of the algorithm's iteration index.