Global Stability of a Population of Mutually Coupled Oscillators Reaching Global ML Estimate Through a Decentralized Approach

The mathematical models of populations of mutually coupled oscillators having self-synchronization capabilities are a powerful tool for designing sensor networks with high energy efficiency, fault tolerance and scalability. In this work, we derive the conditions for the existence the asymptotic stability of the equilibrium of a system capable to provide maximum likelihood estimates through only local coupling and without the need for a fusion center, provided that the whole network observes the same phenomenon. Interestingly, we show that the network global consensus capability is strictly related to the network topology. Finally we test the performance taking into account propagation delays and possible parameter fluctuations among the network nodes