Theory of distributed estimation using multiple asynchronous sensors

This work solves a practical sensor to sensor track fusion problem when the sensors used are asynchronous, communication delays exist between sensor platforms and track fusion center, and tracks may arrive out-of-sequence. For the proposed linear fusion rule, the solution is shown to be optimal in the minimum mean square sense. The new fusion rule does not require the synchronization of tracks for the purpose of track fusion. The batch processing of incoming tracks provides an elegant solution for the out-of-sequence and latent tracks without special processing of such data. As an examlpe, it is shown that the Bar-Shalom-Campo fusion rule is a special case of the new asynchronous track fusion algorithm.