Variance-constrained state estimation for networked multi-rate systems with measurement quantization and probabilistic sensor failures

This paper is concerned with the variance-constrained state estimation problem for a class of networked multi-rate systems (NMSs) with network-induced probabilistic sensor failures and measurement quantization. The stochastic characteristics of the sensor failures are governed by mutually independent random variables over the interval [0,1]. By applying the lifting technique, an augmented system model is established to facilitate the state estimation of the underlying NMSs. With the aid of the stochastic analysis approach, sufficient conditions are derived under which the exponential mean-square stability of the augmented system is guaranteed, the prescribed H∞ performance constraint is achieved, and the individual variance constraint on the steady-state estimation error is satisfied. Based on the derived conditions, the addressed variance-constrained state estimation problem of NMSs is recast as a convex optimization one that can be solved via the semi-definite program method. Furthermore, the explicit expression of the desired estimator gains is obtained by means of the feasibility of certain matrix inequalities. Two additional optimization problems are considered with respect to the H∞ performance index and the weighted error variances. Finally, a simulation example is utilized to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed state estimation method

Gossip Algorithms for Distributed Signal Processing

Gossip algorithms are attractive for in-network processing in sensor networks because they do not require any specialized routing, there is no bottleneck or single point of failure, and they are robust to unreliable wireless network conditions. Recently, there has been a surge of activity in the computer science, control, signal processing, and information theory communities, developing faster and more robust gossip algorithms and deriving theoretical performance guarantees. This article presents an overview of recent work in the area. We describe convergence rate results, which are related to the number of transmitted messages and thus the amount of energy consumed in the network for gossiping. We discuss issues related to gossiping over wireless links, including the effects of quantization and noise, and we illustrate the use of gossip algorithms for canonical signal processing tasks including distributed estimation, source localization, and compression.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of the IEEE, 29 page

Multi-Target Tracking in Distributed Sensor Networks using Particle PHD Filters

Multi-target tracking is an important problem in civilian and military applications. This paper investigates multi-target tracking in distributed sensor networks. Data association, which arises particularly in multi-object scenarios, can be tackled by various solutions. We consider sequential Monte Carlo implementations of the Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter based on random finite sets. This approach circumvents the data association issue by jointly estimating all targets in the region of interest. To this end, we develop the Diffusion Particle PHD Filter (D-PPHDF) as well as a centralized version, called the Multi-Sensor Particle PHD Filter (MS-PPHDF). Their performance is evaluated in terms of the Optimal Subpattern Assignment (OSPA) metric, benchmarked against a distributed extension of the Posterior Cram\'er-Rao Lower Bound (PCRLB), and compared to the performance of an existing distributed PHD Particle Filter. Furthermore, the robustness of the proposed tracking algorithms against outliers and their performance with respect to different amounts of clutter is investigated.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure

Distributed fusion filter over lossy wireless sensor networks with the presence of non-Gaussian noise

The information transmission between nodes in a wireless sensor networks (WSNs) often causes packet loss due to denial-of-service (DoS) attack, energy limitations, and environmental factors, and the information that is successfully transmitted can also be contaminated by non-Gaussian noise. The presence of these two factors poses a challenge for distributed state estimation (DSE) over WSNs. In this paper, a generalized packet drop model is proposed to describe the packet loss phenomenon caused by DoS attacks and other factors. Moreover, a modified maximum correntropy Kalman filter is given, and it is extended to distributed form (DM-MCKF). In addition, a distributed modified maximum correntropy Kalman filter incorporating the generalized data packet drop (DM-MCKF-DPD) algorithm is provided to implement DSE with the presence of both non-Gaussian noise pollution and packet drop. A sufficient condition to ensure the convergence of the fixed-point iterative process of the DM-MCKF-DPD algorithm is presented and the computational complexity of the DM-MCKF-DPD algorithm is analyzed. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithms are verified by simulations