In this thesis two different problems in distributed sensor networks are considered. Part I involves optimal quantiser design for decentralised estimation of a two-state hidden Markov model with dual sensors. The notion of optimality for quantiser design is based on minimising the probability of error in estimating the hidden Markov state. Equations for the filter error are derived for the continuous (unquantised) sensor outputs (signals), which are used to benchmark the performance of the quantisers. Minimising the probability of filter error to obtain the quantiser breakpoints is a difficult problem therefore an alternative method is employed. The quantiser breakpoints are obtained by maximising the mutual information between the quantised signals and the hidden Markov state. This method is known to work well for the single sensor case. Cases with independent and correlated noise across the signals are considered. The method is then applied to Markov processes with Gaussian signal noise, and further investigated through simulation studies. Simulations involving both independent and correlated noise across the sensors are performed and a number of interesting new theoretical results are obtained, particularly in the case of correlated noise. In Part II, the focus shifts to the detection of faults in helicopter transmission systems. The aim of the investigation is to determine whether the acoustic signature can be used for fault detection and diagnosis. To investigate this, statistical change detection algorithms are applied to acoustic vibration data obtained from the main rotor gearbox of a Bell 206 helicopter, which is run at high load under test conditions.

In this thesis two different problems in distributed sensor networks are considered. Part I involves optimal quantiser design for decentralised estimation of a two-state hidden Markov model with dual sensors. The notion of optimality for quantiser design is based on minimising the probability of error in estimating the hidden Markov state. Equations for the filter error are derived for the continuous (unquantised) sensor outputs (signals), which are used to benchmark the performance of the quantisers. Minimising the probability of filter error to obtain the quantiser breakpoints is a difficult problem therefore an alternative method is employed. The quantiser breakpoints are obtained by maximising the mutual information between the quantised signals and the hidden Markov state. This method is known to work well for the single sensor case. Cases with independent and correlated noise across the signals are considered. The method is then applied to Markov processes with Gaussian signal noise, and further investigated through simulation studies. Simulations involving both independent and correlated noise across the sensors are performed and a number of interesting new theoretical results are obtained, particularly in the case of correlated noise. In Part II, the focus shifts to the detection of faults in helicopter transmission systems. The aim of the investigation is to determine whether the acoustic signature can be used for fault detection and diagnosis. To investigate this, statistical change detection algorithms are applied to acoustic vibration data obtained from the main rotor gearbox of a Bell 206 helicopter, which is run at high load under test conditions.