  This paper presents adaptive link selection algorithms for distributed
estimation and considers their application to wireless sensor networks and
smart grids. In particular, exhaustive search--based
least--mean--squares(LMS)/recursive least squares(RLS) link selection
algorithms and sparsity--inspired LMS/RLS link selection algorithms that can
exploit the topology of networks with poor--quality links are considered. The
proposed link selection algorithms are then analyzed in terms of their
stability, steady--state and tracking performance, and computational
complexity. In comparison with existing centralized or distributed estimation
strategies, key features of the proposed algorithms are: 1) more accurate
estimates and faster convergence speed can be obtained; and 2) the network is
equipped with the ability of link selection that can circumvent link failures
and improve the estimation performance. The performance of the proposed
algorithms for distributed estimation is illustrated via simulations in
applications of wireless sensor networks and smart grids.
