Decentralized Sequential Hypothesis Testing using Asynchronous Communication

We present a test for the problem of decentralized sequential hypothesis testing, which is asymptotically optimum. By selecting a suitable sampling mechanism at each sensor, communication between sensors and fusion center is asynchronous and limited to 1-bit data. The proposed SPRT-like test turns out to be order-2 asymptotically optimum in the case of continuous time and continuous path signals, while in discrete time this strong asymptotic optimality property is preserved under proper conditions. If these conditions do not hold, then we can show optimality of order-1. Simulations corroborate the excellent performance characteristics of the test of interest.