Distributed estimation with noisy exchanges

Distributed estimation and detection is of interest for those situations for which the sensor net must achieve an agreement by exchanging information without resorting to the use of an external fusion center. In this paper we deal with the distributed estimation of a static parameter which has been initially estimated by a set of sensors, and for which it is important to have similar estimates as accurate as possible. The cooperation is performed in a distributed way to guarantee scalability and robustness to failures, and it is designed to reduce the detrimental effects of the channel noise on the sensor exchanges. We pose a general framework to include the most relevant contributions dealing with this type of channel imperfection, so pros and cons can be discussed on common ground.