BAYESIAN TIME-VARYING AUTOREGRESSIONS: THEORY, METHODS AND APPLICATIONS

Raquel Prado, Gabriel Huerta and Mike West

August 2000

We review the class of time-varying autoregressive (TVAR) models and a range of related recent developments of Bayesian time series modelling. Beginning with TVAR models in a Bayesian dynamic linear modelling framework, we review aspects of latent structure analysis, including time-domain decomposition methods that provide inferences on the structure underlying non-stationary time series, and that are now central tools in the time series analyst's toolkit. Recent model extensions that deal with model order uncertainty, and are enabled using efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation methods, are discussed, as are novel approaches to sequential filtering and smoothing using particulate filtering methods. We emphasize the relevance of TVAR modelling in a range of applied contexts, including biomedical signal processing and communications, and highlight some of the central developments via examples arising in studies of multiple electroencephalographic (EEG) traces in neurophysiology. We conclude with comments about current research frontiers.

Keywords: Bayesian analysis; Dynamic linear models; Model uncertainty; MCMC simulation; Time series decompositions; TVAR models


The manuscript is available in postscript and pdf formats