Signal Processing-Assisted Protocols and Algorithms for Cooperating Objects and Wireless Sensor Networks

Call for Papers

With the advent of the so-called Internet of Things (IoTs), we will witness an unprecedented growth in the number of networked terminals and devices. In attaining this IoT vision, a class of energy- and, in general, resource-constrained systems like Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), networks of cooperating objects and embedded devices, such as RFIDs, or networks for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications are to play a fundamental role. The paradigm shift from general-purpose to application-oriented networks (e.g., for parameter or random field estimation, event detection, localization) clearly calls for further optimization at the physical, link, and network layers. Interestingly, the above-mentioned estimation/detection/localization problems have been addressed for years by the signal processing community, this resulting into a number of well-known algorithms. Besides, some inspiration could be also borrowed from other communication schemes, such as MIMO or cooperative communications that were traditionally developed for wireless data networks, or even from other fields such as mathematical biology (e.g., networks of coupled oscillators). However, the challenge now is to enhance such algorithms and make them suitable for decentralized and resource-constrained operation in potentially large networks. Complementarily, the vast literature produced by the information theory community reveals, on the one hand, the theoretical performance limits of decentralized processing (e.g., distributed source coding) and, on the other, offers insight on the scalability properties and asymptotic behavior of such networks. Realizing the information-theoretic performance with practical decentralized networking, radio resource management schemes, routing protocols, and other network management paradigms is a key challenge.

The objective of this Special Issue (whose preparation is carried out under the auspices of the EC Network of Excellence in Wireless Communications NEWCOM++) is to gather recent advances in the areas of cooperating objects, embedded devices, and wireless sensor networks. The focus is on how the design of future physical, link, and network layers could benefit from a signal processing-oriented approach. Specific topics include but are not limited to:

• Decentralized parameter estimation
• Estimation of random fields
• Distributed MIMO and beamforming
• Cooperative time/frequency synchronization
• Cooperative event detection
• Data gathering and data fusion
• Data-centric multihop techniques and routing
• Asymptotic laws for in-network estimation/detection
• Energy-saving algorithms and protocols.
• Feedback-limited scheduling and MAC protocols
• Decentralized joint source-channel coding
• Cooperative localization and tracking
• Topology control in resource-constrained networks
• Low-complexity opportunistic networking protocols

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/wcn/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Carles Antón-Haro, Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain

Guest Editors

• Davide Dardari, WiLAB, University of Bologna at Cesena, Cesena, Forlì-Cesena, Italy
• Osvaldo Simeone, Center for Wireless Communications and Signal Processing Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ 07102, USA
• Roberto Verdone, WiLAB, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy