arXiv subjects

Paolo Braca

Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Braca.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

A Scalable Algorithm for Tracking an Unknown Number of Targets Using Multiple Sensors

We propose a method for tracking an unknown number of targets based on measurements provided by multiple sensors. Our method achieves low computational complexity and excellent scalability by running belief propagation on a suitably devised factor graph. A redundant formulation of data association uncertainty and the use of "augmented target states" including binary target indicators make it possible to exploit statistical independencies for a drastic reduction of complexity. An increase in the number of targets, sensors, or measurements leads to additional variable nodes in the factor graph but not to higher dimensions of the messages. As a consequence, the complexity of our method scales only quadratically in the number of targets, linearly in the number of sensors, and linearly in the number of measurements per sensors. The performance of the method compares well with that of previously proposed methods, including methods with a less favorable scaling behavior. In particular, our method can outperform multisensor versions of the probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter, the cardinalized PHD filter, and the multi-Bernoulli filter.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2016

Diffusion-Based Adaptive Distributed Detection: Steady-State Performance in the Slow Adaptation Regime

This work examines the close interplay between cooperation and adaptation for distributed detection schemes over fully decentralized networks. The combined attributes of cooperation and adaptation are necessary to enable networks of detectors to continually learn from streaming data and to continually track drifts in the state of nature when deciding in favor of one hypothesis or another. The results in the paper establish a fundamental scaling law for the steady-state probabilities of miss-detection and false-alarm in the slow adaptation regime, when the agents interact with each other according to distributed strategies that employ small constant step-sizes. The latter are critical to enable continuous adaptation and learning. The work establishes three key results. First, it is shown that the output of the collaborative process at each agent has a steady-state distribution. Second, it is shown that this distribution is asymptotically Gaussian in the slow adaptation regime of small step-sizes. And third, by carrying out a detailed large deviations analysis, closed-form expressions are derived for the decaying rates of the false-alarm and miss-detection probabilities. Interesting insights are gained. In particular, it is verified that as the step-size $μ$ decreases, the error probabilities are driven to zero exponentially fast as functions of $1/μ$, and that the error exponents increase linearly in the number of agents. It is also verified that the scaling laws governing errors of detection and errors of estimation over networks behave very differently, with the former having an exponential decay proportional to $1/μ$, while the latter scales linearly with decay proportional to $μ$. It is shown that the cooperative strategy allows each agent to reach the same detection performance, in terms of detection error exponents, of a centralized stochastic-gradient solution.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2016

Distributed Detection over Adaptive Networks: Refined Asymptotics and the Role of Connectivity

We consider distributed detection problems over adaptive networks, where dispersed agents learn continually from streaming data by means of local interactions. The simultaneous requirements of adaptation and cooperation are achieved by employing diffusion algorithms with constant step-size μ. In [1], [2] some main features of adaptive distributed detection were revealed. By resorting to large deviations analysis, it was established that the Type-I and Type-II error probabilities of all agents vanish exponentially as functions of 1/μ, and that all agents share the same Type-I and Type-II error exponents. However, numerical evidences presented in [1], [2] showed that the theory of large deviations does not capture the fundamental impact of network connectivity on performance, and that additional tools and efforts are required to obtain accurate predictions for the error probabilities. This work addresses these open issues and extends the results of [1], [2] in several directions. By conducting a refined asymptotic analysis based on the mathematical framework of exact asymptotics, we arrive at a revealing and powerful understanding of the universal behavior of distributed detection over adaptive networks: as functions of 1/μ, the error (log-)probability curves corresponding to different agents stay nearly-parallel to each other (as already discovered in [1], [2]), however, these curves are ordered following a criterion reflecting the degree of connectivity of each agent. Depending on the combination weights, the more connected an agent is, the lower its error probability curve will be. Interesting and somehow unexpected behaviors emerge, in terms of the interplay between the network topology, the combination weights, and the inference performance. The lesson learned is that connectivity matters.

cs.MA↗

arXiv2013

Running Consensus for Decentralized Detection

This thesis represents a culmination of work and learning that has taken place over a period of almost three years (2007 - 2010) at the University of Salerno, and at the University of Connecticut. It is mostly an unified mathematical dissertation of the running consensus procedures. In the recent years, the detection using the paradigm of the running consensus has been recognized as one of the three possible classes of distributed detection in which the phases of sensing and communication need not be mutually exclusive, i.e., sensing and communication occur simultaneously. Considering that the running consensus paradigm is just an intuitive inference procedure, i.e. sub-optimal w.r.t. an ideal centralized system scheme which is optimal, the most important result is that it asymptotically reaches the performance of this ideal scheme.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2011

Asymptotic Properties of One-Bit Distributed Detection with Ordered Transmissions

Consider a sensor network made of remote nodes connected to a common fusion center. In a recent work Blum and Sadler [1] propose the idea of ordered transmissions -sensors with more informative samples deliver their messages first- and prove that optimal detection performance can be achieved using only a subset of the total messages. Taking to one extreme this approach, we show that just a single delivering allows making the detection errors as small as desired, for a sufficiently large network size: a one-bit detection scheme can be asymptotically consistent. The transmission ordering is based on the modulus of some local statistic (MO system). We derive analytical results proving the asymptotic consistency and, for the particular case that the local statistic is the log-likelihood (\ell-MO system), we also obtain a bound on the error convergence rate. All the theorems are proved under the general setup of random number of sensors. Computer experiments corroborate the analysis and address typical examples of applications including: non-homogeneous Poisson-deployed networks, detection by per-sensor censoring, monitoring of energy-constrained phenomenon.

cs.IT↗