Dynamic Bayesian diffusion estimation

The rapidly increasing complexity of (mainly wireless) ad-hoc networks stresses the need of reliable distributed estimation of several variables of interest. The widely used centralized approach, in which the network nodes communicate their data with a single specialized point, suffers from high communication overheads and represents a potentially dangerous concept with a single point of failure needing special treatment. This paper’s aim is to contribute to another quite recent method called diffusion estimation. By decentralizing the operating environment, the network nodes communicate just within a close neighbourhood. We adopt the Bayesian framework to modelling and estimation, which, unlike the traditional approaches, abstracts from a particular model case. This leads to a very scalable and universal method, applicable to a wide class of different models. A particularly interesting case – the Gaussian regressive model – is derived as an example.