Collaborative distributed data fusion architecture using multi-level Markov decision processes

Decentralized multisensor-multitarget tracking has numerous advantages over single-sensor or single-platform tracking. In this paper, we present a solution to one of the main problems of decentralized tracking, namely, distributed information transfer and fusion among the participating platforms. This paper presents a hierarchial multi-level decision mechanism for collaborative distributed data fusion that provides each platform with the required data for the fusion process while substantially reducing redundancy in the information flow in the overall system. We consider a distributed data fusion system consisting of platforms that are decentralized, heterogenous, and potentially unreliable. The proposed approach, which is based on hierarchial Markov decision processes and decentralized lookup substrate, will control the information exchange and data fusion process based, among the other parameters, on maximizing performance metrics of individual platforms, thereby enhancing the whole distributed system's reliability as well as that of each participating platform. Simulation examples demonstrate the operation and the performance results of the system.