Serial distributed detection for wireless sensor networks with sensor failure

We study serial distributed detection and fusion over noisy channels in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) with bathtub-shaped failure (BSF) rate of the sensors in this paper. In the previous work, we applied BSF rate to parallel topology and derived the Extension Log-likelihood Ration Test (ELRT) rule. Although ELRT is superior to traditional fusion rule without considering failed sensors, the detection performance decreases noticeably in the presence of a large number of failed sensors. In this paper, we construct a serial topology based on the target radiation energy attenuation model, apply BSF rate to serial topology, and derive the corresponding fusion rule. Unlike the parallel fusion, where the local sensors send their decisions to the Global Fusion Center (GFC) in the region of interest (ROI) directly, sensors in the serial topology transmit local decisions through multi-hop, short-range communications. At the same time, we extend ELRT to noisy channels. Finally, simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed fusion rules.