A graph theoretic approach to data incest management in network centric warfare

This paper considers the problem of data incest management in decentralized estimation networks. All nodes consist of both a measurement sensor and a local fusion centre. Global state information is exchanged across communications channels with bounded variable delays. Particular attention is devoted to the underlying delay structure that causes data incest. The investigation employs an efficient graph theoretic representation of the time varying nature of these delays. Applying this framework a data incest management algorithm is presented and is complimented with a tool for identifying the necessary and sufficient condition for its use.