Functional characterization of sensor integration in distributed sensor networks

Fault-tolerance is an important issue in network design because sensor networks must function in a dynamic, uncertain world. In this paper, the authors propose a functional characterization of the fault-tolerant integration of abstract interval estimates. This model provides a test bed for a general framework which the authors hope to develop to address the general problem of fault-tolerant integration of abstract sensor estimates. They further propose a scheme for narrowing the width of the sensor output in a specific failure model and give it a functional representation. The main distinguishing feature of the authors´ model over the original Marzullo´s model is in reducing the width of the output interval estimate significantly in most cases where the number of sensors involved is large