Decentralized nonparametric detectors

A system formed by N identical nonparametric detectors and a fusion center is studied. The detectors transmit their decisions to the fusion center. The detectors are based either on the signs (sign test) or on the signs and the ranks of the observations (Wilcoxon test). It is concluded that the performance is almost unchanged when the product of the number of detectors by the number of samples received by each of them is constant. The asymptotic performance is also derived, and it is shown that it is equivalent to the centralized situation as the number of samples increases without limit.