  We propose a multi-hop diffusion strategy for a sensor network to perform
distributed least mean-squares (LMS) estimation under local and network-wide
energy constraints. At each iteration of the strategy, each node can combine
intermediate parameter estimates from nodes other than its physical neighbors
via a multi-hop relay path. We propose a rule to select combination weights for
the multi-hop neighbors, which can balance between the transient and the
steady-state network mean-square deviations (MSDs). We study two classes of
networks: simple networks with a unique transmission path from one node to
another, and arbitrary networks utilizing diffusion consultations over at most
two hops. We propose a method to optimize each node's information neighborhood
subject to local energy budgets and a network-wide energy budget for each
diffusion iteration. This optimization requires the network topology, and the
noise and data variance profiles of each node, and is performed offline before
the diffusion process. In addition, we develop a fully distributed and adaptive
algorithm that approximately optimizes the information neighborhood of each
node with only local energy budget constraints in the case where diffusion
consultations are performed over at most a predefined number of hops. Numerical
results suggest that our proposed multi-hop diffusion strategy achieves the
same steady-state MSD as the existing one-hop adapt-then-combine diffusion
algorithm but with a lower energy budget.
