Distributed detection and estimation in decentralized sensor networks: An overview

In this work we review some of the most recent in-network computation capabilities that can be used in sensor networks to alleviate the information traffic from the sensors towards the sink nodes. More specifically, after briefly reviewing distributed average consensus techniques, we will concentrate on consensus mechanisms based on self-synchronization of coupled dynamical systems, initialized with local measurements. We will show how to achieve globally optimal distributed detection and estimation through minimum exchange of information between nearby nodes in the case where the whole network observes one common event.