Optimization of detection networks with multiple event structures

Considers a multilevel hierarchical decision network faced with a distributed binary detection problem with partial information at the individual decisionmaker (DM). The partial information is modeled by different local events at the DMs, and these local events are probabilistically related to one another. Solution to this generalized hypothesis testing problem is obtained using the optimal control approach, where the optimization criterion is the expected decision cost of the network. The impacts of variations in the correlation of events at two communicating nodes on the aggregated expertise of the network and on the overall decision cost are illustrated via a numerical example