Distributed Detection and Data Fusion

Book excerpt: This book provides an introductory treatment of the fundamentals of decision-making in a distributed framework. Classical detection theory assumes that complete observations are available at a central processor for decision-making. More recently, many applications have been identified in which observations are processed in a distributed manner and decisions are made at the distributed processors, or processed data (compressed observations) are conveyed to a fusion center that makes the global decision. Conventional detection theory has been extended so that it can deal with such distributed detection problems. A unified treatment of recent advances in this new branch of statistical decision theory is presented. Distributed detection under different formulations and for a variety of detection network topologies is discussed. This material is not available in any other book and has appeared relatively recently in technical journals. The level of presentation is such that the hook can be used as a graduate-level textbook. Numerous examples are presented throughout the book. It is assumed that the reader has been exposed to detection theory. The book will also serve as a useful reference for practicing engineers and researchers. I have actively pursued research on distributed detection and data fusion over the last decade, which ultimately interested me in writing this book. Many individuals have played a key role in the completion of this book.