Energy-efficient scheme using multiple antennas in secure distributed detection

© 2018, The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Here, the authors propose an energy-efficient strategy using multiple antennas for secure distributed detection in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In multiple access channel, it is possible to communicate between sensors and ally fusion centre with perfect secrecy by an encryption with channel state information (CSI). However, the sensors in an active group may need to constantly report in the encryption as long as the CSI remains unchanged, which deteriorates the energy efficiency in terms of the lifetime of WSN. The authors solve the problem by using random beamforming (e.g. antenna subset modulation). Furthermore, the authors investigate the impact of the number of active antennas on the network lifetime. Through the analysis and simulation, the authors demonstrate that the proposed strategy has a higher energy efficiency than the conventional strategy, while maintaining the same reliability and security.