High-Rate Vector Quantization for the Neyman-Pearson Detection of Correlated Processes

This paper investigates the effect of quantization on the performance of the Neyman-Pearson test. It is assumed that a sensing unit observes samples of a correlated stationary ergodic multivariate process. Each sample is passed through an N-point quantizer and transmitted to a decision device which performs a binary hypothesis test. For any false alarm level, it is shown that the miss probability of the Neyman-Pearson test converges to zero exponentially as the number of samples tends to infinity, assuming that the observed process satisfies certain mixing conditions. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a compact closed-form expression of the error exponent in the high-rate regime i.e., when the number N of quantization levels tends to infinity, generalizing previous results of Gupta and Hero to the case of non-independent observations. If d represents the dimension of one sample, it is proved that the error exponent converges at rate N^{2/d} to the one obtained in the absence of quantization. As an application, relevant high-rate quantization strategies which lead to a large error exponent are determined. Numerical results indicate that the proposed quantization rule can yield better performance than existing ones in terms of detection error.Comment: 47 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. To appear in the IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

Type-Based Random Access for Distributed Detection Over Multiaccess Fading Channels

The problem of distributed detection in a sensor network over multiaccess fading channels is considered. A random-access transmission scheme referred to as the type-based random access (TBRA) is proposed and analyzed. Error exponents of TBRA under noncoherent detection are characterized with respect to the mean transmission rate and the channel-coherence index. For the zero-mean multiaccess fading channels, it is shown that there exists an optimal mean-transmission rate that maximizes the detection-error exponents. The optimal mean-transmission rate can be calculated numerically or estimated using the Gaussian approximation, and it gives a sensor-activation strategy that achieves an optimal allocation of transmission energy to spatial and temporal domains. Numerical examples and simulations are used to compare TBRA with the conventional centralized time-division multiple access (TDMA) scheme. It is shown that for the zero-mean multiaccess fading channels, TBRA gives substantial improvement in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime whereas for the nonzero mean fading channels, TBRA performs better over a wide range of SNR

Distributed Detection and Estimation in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this article we consider the problems of distributed detection and estimation in wireless sensor networks. In the first part, we provide a general framework aimed to show how an efficient design of a sensor network requires a joint organization of in-network processing and communication. Then, we recall the basic features of consensus algorithm, which is a basic tool to reach globally optimal decisions through a distributed approach. The main part of the paper starts addressing the distributed estimation problem. We show first an entirely decentralized approach, where observations and estimations are performed without the intervention of a fusion center. Then, we consider the case where the estimation is performed at a fusion center, showing how to allocate quantization bits and transmit powers in the links between the nodes and the fusion center, in order to accommodate the requirement on the maximum estimation variance, under a constraint on the global transmit power. We extend the approach to the detection problem. Also in this case, we consider the distributed approach, where every node can achieve a globally optimal decision, and the case where the decision is taken at a central node. In the latter case, we show how to allocate coding bits and transmit power in order to maximize the detection probability, under constraints on the false alarm rate and the global transmit power. Then, we generalize consensus algorithms illustrating a distributed procedure that converges to the projection of the observation vector onto a signal subspace. We then address the issue of energy consumption in sensor networks, thus showing how to optimize the network topology in order to minimize the energy necessary to achieve a global consensus. Finally, we address the problem of matching the topology of the network to the graph describing the statistical dependencies among the observed variables.Comment: 92 pages, 24 figures. To appear in E-Reference Signal Processing, R. Chellapa and S. Theodoridis, Eds., Elsevier, 201

A review of RFI mitigation techniques in microwave radiometry

Radio frequency interference (RFI) is a well-known problem in microwave radiometry (MWR). Any undesired signal overlapping the MWR protected frequency bands introduces a bias in the measurements, which can corrupt the retrieved geophysical parameters. This paper presents a literature review of RFI detection and mitigation techniques for microwave radiometry from space. The reviewed techniques are divided between real aperture and aperture synthesis. A discussion and assessment of the application of RFI mitigation techniques is presented for each type of radiometer.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Decision-Making with Heterogeneous Sensors - A Copula Based Approach

Statistical decision making has wide ranging applications, from communications and signal processing to econometrics and finance. In contrast to the classical one source-one receiver paradigm, several applications have been identified in the recent past that require acquiring data from multiple sources or sensors. Information from the multiple sensors are transmitted to a remotely located receiver known as the fusion center which makes a global decision. Past work has largely focused on fusion of information from homogeneous sensors. This dissertation extends the formulation to the case when the local sensors may possess disparate sensing modalities. Both the theoretical and practical aspects of multimodal signal processing are considered. The first and foremost challenge is to \u27adequately\u27 model the joint statistics of such heterogeneous sensors. We propose the use of copula theory for this purpose. Copula models are general descriptors of dependence. They provide a way to characterize the nonlinear functional relationships between the multiple modalities, which are otherwise difficult to formalize. The important problem of selecting the `best\u27 copula function from a given set of valid copula densities is addressed, especially in the context of binary hypothesis testing problems. Both, the training-testing paradigm, where a training set is assumed to be available for learning the copula models prior to system deployment, as well as generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) based fusion rule for the online selection and estimation of copula parameters are considered. The developed theory is corroborated with extensive computer simulations as well as results on real-world data. Sensor observations (or features extracted thereof) are most often quantized before their transmission to the fusion center for bandwidth and power conservation. A detection scheme is proposed for this problem assuming unifom scalar quantizers at each sensor. The designed rule is applicable for both binary and multibit local sensor decisions. An alternative suboptimal but computationally efficient fusion rule is also designed which involves injecting a deliberate disturbance to the local sensor decisions before fusion. The rule is based on Widrow\u27s statistical theory of quantization. Addition of controlled noise helps to \u27linearize\u27 the higly nonlinear quantization process thus resulting in computational savings. It is shown that although the introduction of external noise does cause a reduction in the received signal to noise ratio, the proposed approach can be highly accurate when the input signals have bandlimited characteristic functions, and the number of quantization levels is large. The problem of quantifying neural synchrony using copula functions is also investigated. It has been widely accepted that multiple simultaneously recorded electroencephalographic signals exhibit nonlinear and non-Gaussian statistics. While the existing and popular measures such as correlation coefficient, corr-entropy coefficient, coh-entropy and mutual information are limited to being bivariate and hence applicable only to pairs of channels, measures such as Granger causality, even though multivariate, fail to account for any nonlinear inter-channel dependence. The application of copula theory helps alleviate both these limitations. The problem of distinguishing patients with mild cognitive impairment from the age-matched control subjects is also considered. Results show that the copula derived synchrony measures when used in conjunction with other synchrony measures improve the detection of Alzheimer\u27s disease onset