On the Effects of Flat Fading Channels on the Steady-State Performance of Diffusion Adaptive Networks

Adaptive networks are known as powerful solution for distributed estimation problems. It is shown in available works that, under the ideal link condition, diffusion adaptive networks are efficient solutions for distributed estimation. However, ideal link is not a practical assumption for many applications. Thus, this paper aims to study the steady-state performance of diffusion adaptive networks with flat fading channels. Using the energy conservation argument, we derive closed-form expressions for EMSE and MSD metrics. We also derive the required bound (in terms of the step size parameter) for stability of diffusion adaptive network with fading links. Our analysis shows that in this condition, steady-state curves are not monotonic increasing functions of step size. We provide simulation results to support the analysis.