Sparse Signal Aloha: A Compressive Sensing-Based Method for Uncoordinated Multiple Access

We investigate the problem of sparse signal medium access control in the wireless sensor networks. The proposed sparse signal Aloha (SSA) transmits sampled compressive data to the fusion center using Aloha random access protocol. In order to maximize the overall data transmission rate in the presence of packet collision, redundant data are randomly subsampled at individual sensor nodes according to an optimal subsampling rate before transmission. Data loss due to random subsampling and collision in the wireless channel are compensated using compressive sensing recovery method at the fusion center. Simulation results verify the theoretical analysis and show the significant improvement of SSA compared with existing CS-based random access method.