Distributed Joint Source-Channel Coding in Wireless Sensor Networks.docVIP

Sensors 2009, 9, 4901-4917; doi:10.3390/OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Review Distributed Joint Source-Channel Coding in Wireless Sensor Networks Xuqi Zhu, Yu Liu and Lin Zhang * School of Information and Communication Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 100876, Beijing, China; E-Mails: safiml@ (X.Z.), liuy@ (Y.L.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: zhanglin@; Tel.: +86-10Received: 3 April 2009; in revised form: 15 May 2009 / Accepted: 3 June 2009 / Published: 22 June 2009 Abstract: Considering the fact that sensors are energy-limited and the wireless channel conditions in wireless sensor networks, there is an urgent need for a low-complexity coding method with high compression ratio and noise-resisted features. This paper reviews the progress made in distributed joint source-channel coding which can address this issue. The main existing deployments, from the theory to practice, of distributed joint source- channel coding over the independent channels, the multiple access channels and the broadcast channels are introduced, respectively. To this end, we also present a practical scheme for compressing multiple correlated sources over the independent channels. The simulation results demonstrate the desired efficiency. Keywords: distributed joint source-channel coding; wireless sensor networks; multiple access channels; broadcast channels; information theory 1. Introduction In recent years, the growing concern for our environment and society has led to applications ranging from detecting chemical leaks to monitoring underground parking. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have received significant attention to fulfill these requirements. WSNs consist of a large  Sensors 2009, 9 4902 number of cheap sensors, e.g. intelligent sensor nodes, micro-cameras, which are densely allocated and sel