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Position Accuracy and Distributed Beamforming Performance in WSNs: A Simulation Study

Casca, J. ; Gupta, P. ; Gomes, M. ; Silva, V. ; Dinis, R.

Future Internet Vol. 17, Nº 6, pp. 236 - 236, May, 2025.

ISSN (print):
ISSN (online): 1999-5903

Scimago Journal Ranking: 0,81 (in 2023)

Digital Object Identifier: 10.3390/fi17060236

Abstract
This work investigates the performance of distributed beamforming in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), focusing on the impact of node position errors. A comprehensive simulation testbed was developed to assess how varying network topologies and position uncertainties impact system performance. Our results reveal that distributed beamforming in the near-field is highly sensitive to position errors, resulting in a noticeable degradation in performance, particularly in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER). Cramer–Rao Lower Bound (CRB) was used to analyse the theoretical limitations of position estimation accuracy and how these limitations affect beamforming performance. These findings underscore the critical importance of accurate localisation techniques and robust beamforming algorithms to fully realise the potential of distributed beamforming in practical WSN applications.