Sequential change point detection with FDR control in reconfigurable sensor networks

Abstract

This paper investigates sequential change-point detection in reconfigurable sensor networks. In this problem, data from multiple sensors are observed sequentially. Each sensor can have a unique change point, and the data distribution differs before and after the change. We aim to detect these changes as quickly as possible once they have occurred while controlling the false discovery rate at all times. Our setting is more realistic than traditional settings in that (1) the set of active sensors – i.e., those from which data can be collected – can change over time through the deactivation of existing sensors and the addition of new sensors and (2) dependencies can occur both between sensors and across time points. We propose powerful e-value-based detection procedures that control the false discovery rate uniformly over time. Numerical experiments demonstrate that, with the same false discovery rate target, our procedures achieve superior performance compared to existing methods, exhibiting lower false non-discovery rates and reduced detection delays.