USING A UAV TO COLLECT DATA FROM LOW-POWER WIRELESS SENSORS

Abstract

In this work we propose an energy-efficient cooperative transmission scheme for wireless sensor networks (WSNs)
\nwhere data gathered by sensor nodes need to be transmitted toward a far receiver. The scenario consist of sensor
\nnodes that share a common message that has to be transmitted asynchronously toward a fusion center positioned
\nonboard an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We assume the communication channel between the sensors and the
\nfusion center subject to fading and noise. Therefore, the fusion center must be able to receive the weak and noisy
\nsignals and combine them in coherent way to obtain a reliable communication. In our approach the fusion center
\nis represented by a Rake receiver. The results of simulations show that such approach allow to obtain a throughput
\nand an energy efficiency directly proportional to the number of nodes.