Joint optimization of SINR and power allocation to relays in cluster-based wireless sensor networks

Wireless relaying has attracted dramatic attention in the last few years due to its advantage in multi-hop communication systems. Cooperation among nodes in a network enhances the overall system performance. Power allocation schemes have been discussed with respect to optimization of signal to noise ratio (SNR) without considering the interference. The contribution of our present approach is to allocate power to relay nodes in presence of interference, for cluster-based cooperative wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this paper, we consider optimization of the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) and allocating the power to relay nodes by using the difference of two convex functions (dc) algorithm. The best relay is selected based on the comparisons of power allocated to relay nodes. Such schemes would be typically applicable to a network where allocation of orthogonal channels to sensor nodes will not be feasible such as marine WSNs, border sensor networks etc. Numerical and simulation results are also provided. Comprehensive analysis and extensive simulations show our scheme to be highly effective and flexible in balancing the cost and quality of service (QoS) performance.