Conflict Data Fusion in a Multi-Agent System Premised on the Base Basic Probability Assignment and Evidence Distance

The multi-agent information fusion (MAIF) system can alleviate the limitations of a single expert system in dealing with complex situations, as it allows multiple agents to cooperate in order to solve problems in complex environments. Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidence theory has important applications in multi-source data fusion, pattern recognition, and other fields. However, the traditional Dempster combination rules may produce counterintuitive results when dealing with highly conflicting data. A conflict data fusion method in a multi-agent system based on the base basic probability assignment (bBPA) and evidence distance is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the new bBPA and reconstructed BPA are used to construct the initial belief degree of each agent. Then, the information volume of each evidence group is obtained by calculating the evidence distance so as to modify the reliability and obtain more reasonable evidence. Lastly, the final evidence is fused with the Dempster combination rule to obtain the result. Numerical examples show the effectiveness and availability of the proposed method, which improves the accuracy of the identification process of the MAIF system.     

Measuring Uncertainty in the Negation Evidence for Multi-Source Information Fusion

Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely used in modeling and reasoning uncertain information in real applications. Recently, a new perspective of modeling uncertain information with the negation of evidence was proposed and has attracted a lot of attention. Both the basic probability assignment (BPA) and the negation of BPA in the evidence theory framework can model and reason uncertain information. However, how to address the uncertainty in the negation information modeled as the negation of BPA is still an open issue. Inspired by the uncertainty measures in Dempster–Shafer evidence theory, a method of measuring the uncertainty in the negation evidence is proposed. The belief entropy named Deng entropy, which has attracted a lot of attention among researchers, is adopted and improved for measuring the uncertainty of negation evidence. The proposed measure is defined based on the negation function of BPA and can quantify the uncertainty of the negation evidence. In addition, an improved method of multi-source information fusion considering uncertainty quantification in the negation evidence with the new measure is proposed. Experimental results on a numerical example and a fault diagnosis problem verify the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed method in measuring and fusing uncertain information.     

A Decision Probability Transformation Method Based on the Neural Network

When the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is applied to the field of information fusion, how to reasonably transform the basic probability assignment (BPA) into probability to improve decision-making efficiency has been a key challenge. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an efficient probability transformation method based on neural network to achieve the transformation from the BPA to the probabilistic decision. First, a neural network is constructed based on the BPA of propositions in the mass function. Next, the average information content and the interval information content are used to quantify the information contained in each proposition subset and combined to construct the weighting function with parameter r. Then, the BPA of the input layer and the bias units are allocated to the proposition subset in each hidden layer according to the weight factors until the probability of each single-element proposition with the variable is output. Finally, the parameter r and the optimal transform results are obtained under the premise of maximizing the probabilistic information content. The proposed method satisfies the consistency of the upper and lower boundaries of each proposition. Extensive examples and a practical application show that, compared with the other methods, the proposed method not only has higher applicability, but also has lower uncertainty regarding the transformation result information.     

基于证据可信度的D-S理论协作频谱感知方法

D-S证据理论频谱感知算法中,针对当协作用户数增加时所引起的报告数据量迅速增大、带宽开销增加问题,将本地测量统计量中不确定度分配到确定信息中,减少了向融合中心发送的数据量,有效降低了带宽开销。其次,针对高冲突数据对D-S证据理论融合结果影响大的问题,通过评估每个证据的可信度,将可信度作为权重来计算加权平均证据,降低了高冲突证据对融合结果的影响。仿真结果表明,所提方法在有效降低了报告带宽开销的同时,能够减少高冲突证据对融合结果的影响。     

Multi-Source Information Fusion Based on Negation of Reconstructed Basic Probability Assignment with Padded Gaussian Distribution and Belief Entropy

Multi-source information fusion is widely used because of its similarity to practical engineering situations. With the development of science and technology, the sources of information collected under engineering projects and scientific research are more diverse. To extract helpful information from multi-source information, in this paper, we propose a multi-source information fusion method based on the Dempster-Shafer (DS) evidence theory with the negation of reconstructed basic probability assignments (nrBPA). To determine the initial basic probability assignment (BPA), the Gaussian distribution BPA functions with padding terms are used. After that, nrBPAs are determined by two processes, reassigning the high blur degree BPA and transforming them into the form of negation. In addition, evidence of preliminary fusion is obtained using the entropy weight method based on the improved belief entropy of nrBPAs. The final fusion results are calculated from the preliminary fused evidence through the Dempster’s combination rule. In the experimental section, the UCI iris data set and the wine data set are used for validating the arithmetic processes of the proposed method. In the comparative analysis, the effectiveness of the BPA determination using a padded Gaussian function is verified by discussing the classification task with the iris data set. Subsequently, the comparison with other methods using the cross-validation method proves that the proposed method is robust. Notably, the classification accuracy of the iris data set using the proposed method can reach an accuracy of 97.04%, which is higher than many other methods.     

A Novel Method to Determine Basic Probability Assignment Based on Adaboost and Its Application in Classification

In the framework of evidence theory, one of the open and crucial issues is how to determine the basic probability assignment (BPA), which is directly related to whether the decision result is correct. This paper proposes a novel method for obtaining BPA based on Adaboost. The method uses training data to generate multiple strong classifiers for each attribute model, which is used to determine the BPA of the singleton proposition since the weights of classification provide necessary information for fundamental hypotheses. The BPA of the composite proposition is quantified by calculating the area ratio of the singleton proposition’s intersection region. The recursive formula of the area ratio of the intersection region is proposed, which is very useful for computer calculation. Finally, BPAs are combined by Dempster’s rule of combination. Using the proposed method to classify the Iris dataset, the experiment concludes that the total recognition rate is 96.53% and the classification accuracy is 90% when the training percentage is 10%. For the other datasets, the experiment results also show that the proposed method is reasonable and effective, and the proposed method performs well in the case of insufficient samples.     

基于选择判据和贴近度的D-S证据融合方法

针对传统D-S证据理论难以融合高度冲突证据的问题,并考虑到证据正常时Dempster规则具有优越的聚焦性能,提出了一种基于选择判据和贴近度的证据融合方法。把贴近度概念引入到D-S证据合成中,通过证据的一致性度量来计算证据的权重,从而实现了冲突证据的加权融合。同时提出了证据修正的选择判据,将证据分成冲突与非冲突两类,对冲突的证据进行修正后再进行合成,而非冲突证据可直接进行合成。通过实例验证表明,所提出的方法不但保持了Dempster规则优越的信息聚焦性能,而且较好的解决了冲突证据的合成问题。     

基于改进自适应加权的多传感器融合监测

针对加注系统多传感器测量数据融合,为满足融合的可靠性与准确性需求,提出了一种改进的自适应加权融合算法。加权融合算法的关键是如何准确判定测量数据权重值,在总结分析当前权重值判定方法优缺点的基础上,将证据理论中的修正证据距离引入测量数据间距离计算,生成融合权重值,完成传感器数据融合。通过一般算例与加注系统典型算例,对所提融合算法进行验证,结果表明算法融合效果较好、鲁棒性强,具有一定的理论意义和较好的工程实用价值。     

Measuring the Uncertainty in the Original and Negation of Evidence Using Belief Entropy for Conflict Data Fusion

Dempster-Shafer (DS) evidence theory is widely used in various fields of uncertain information processing, but it may produce counterintuitive results when dealing with conflicting data. Therefore, this paper proposes a new data fusion method which combines the Deng entropy and the negation of basic probability assignment (BPA). In this method, the uncertain degree in the original BPA and the negation of BPA are considered simultaneously. The degree of uncertainty of BPA and negation of BPA is measured by the Deng entropy, and the two uncertain measurement results are integrated as the final uncertainty degree of the evidence. This new method can not only deal with the data fusion of conflicting evidence, but it can also obtain more uncertain information through the negation of BPA, which is of great help to improve the accuracy of information processing and to reduce the loss of information. We apply it to numerical examples and fault diagnosis experiments to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the method. In addition, some open issues existing in current work, such as the limitations of the Dempster-Shafer theory (DST) under the open world assumption and the necessary properties of uncertainty measurement methods, are also discussed in this paper.     

改进的对向传播网络及其在多传感器目标识别中的应用

针对多传感器数据融合和目标识别的特点,提出了改进的对向传播网络(MCPN),并与Dempster-Shafer(D-S)证据推理相结合,实现了决策层数据融合目标识别.文中利用仿真数据对所提出的网络训练算法和融合结构进行了实验研究.结果表明:改进后的对向传播网络识别性能优于传统的对向传播网络(CPN),融合后的目标识别率较单传感器明显提高.最后,将该方法应用于前视红外(FLIR)和可见光摄像机目标跟踪系统对算法和融合结构进行验证,结果表明文中提出的方法是可行的.     

Distributed Deep Fusion Predictor for a Multi-Sensor System Based on Causality Entropy

Trend prediction based on sensor data in a multi-sensor system is an important topic. As the number of sensors increases, we can measure and store more and more data. However, the increase in data has not effectively improved prediction performance. This paper focuses on this problem and presents a distributed predictor that can overcome unrelated data and sensor noise: First, we define the causality entropy to calculate the measurement’s causality. Then, the series causality coefficient (SCC) is proposed to select the high causal measurement as the input data. To overcome the traditional deep learning network’s over-fitting to the sensor noise, the Bayesian method is used to obtain the weight distribution characteristics of the sub-predictor network. A multi-layer perceptron (MLP) is constructed as the fusion layer to fuse the results from different sub-predictors. The experiments were implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method by meteorological data from Beijing. The results show that the proposed predictor can effectively model the multi-sensor system’s big measurement data to improve prediction performance.     

Identifying influential nodes in weighted networks based on evidence theory

The design of an effective ranking method to identify influential nodes is an important problem in the study of complex networks. In this paper, a new centrality measure is proposed based on the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory. The proposed measure trades off between the degree and strength of every node in a weighted network. The influences of both the degree and the strength of each node are represented by basic probability assignment (BPA). The proposed centrality measure is determined by the combination of these BPAs. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

基于安卓系统的多参远程健康检测系统研究

传统家用体检设备交互界面过于简陋,且不能融合多种体检参数,给予更为准确的体检结果。提出将多传感器信息融合技术引入远程健康监护领域,在数据处理的初级和决策阶段,分别采用并实现了基于最优融合集和改进后D-S证据理论融合算法。在此基础上,针对移动智能终端日益普及的情况,设计了基于安卓的多参健康检测系统。实现了对体检果更加形象的显示和更加准确的体检结果判定。通过仿真测试,证实算法可行,且系统具有一定的实际应用价值。     

复杂装备退化状态早期识别方法研究

针对复杂装备早期退化状态难以识别的问题,提出一种将相关向量机(RVM)和Dezert-Smarandache 理论(DSmT)相结合的多特征融合决策识别方法。该方法首先分别采用时域分析法和时频域小波包变换法对装备的状态特征进行提取;之后将状态特征向量输入RVM模型中完成对状态属性的判定并获得各种状态模式的基本置信度分配;最后依据DSmT的PCR6规则对含有冲突信息的多个识别结果进行决策融合,得到早期退化状态的最终识别结果。在对某航空机电设备的实例应用中表明,该方法可以有效地解决信息高冲突条件下的早期退化状态识别问题,结果可靠准确。     

Adaptive Diagnosis for Fault Tolerant Data Fusion Based on α-Rényi Divergence Strategy for Vehicle Localization

When applying a diagnostic technique to complex systems, whose dynamics, constraints, and environment evolve over time, being able to re-evaluate the residuals that are capable of detecting defaults and proposing the most appropriate ones can quickly prove to make sense. For this purpose, the concept of adaptive diagnosis is introduced. In this work, the contributions of information theory are investigated in order to propose a Fault-Tolerant multi-sensor data fusion framework. This work is part of studies proposing an architecture combining a stochastic filter for state estimation with a diagnostic layer with the aim of proposing a safe and accurate state estimation from potentially inconsistent or erroneous sensors measurements. From the design of the residuals, using α-Rényi Divergence (α-RD), to the optimization of the decision threshold, through the establishment of a function that is dedicated to the choice of α at each moment, we detail each step of the proposed automated decision-support framework. We also dwell on: (1) the consequences of the degree of freedom provided by this α parameter and on (2) the application-dictated policy to design the α tuning function playing on the overall performance of the system (detection rate, false alarms, and missed detection rates). Finally, we present a real application case on which this framework has been tested. The problem of multi-sensor localization, integrating sensors whose operating range is variable according to the environment crossed, is a case study to illustrate the contributions of such an approach and show the performance.     

Distance-Based Knowledge Measure for Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets with Its Application in Decision Making

Much attention has been paid to construct an applicable knowledge measure or uncertainty measure for Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy set (AIFS). However, many of these measures were developed from intuitionistic fuzzy entropy, which cannot really reflect the knowledge amount associated with an AIFS well. Some knowledge measures were constructed based on the distinction between an AIFS and its complementary set, which may lead to information loss in decision making. In this paper, knowledge amount of an AIFS is quantified by calculating the distance from an AIFS to the AIFS with maximum uncertainty. Axiomatic properties for the definition of knowledge measure are extended to a more general level. Then the new knowledge measure is developed based on an intuitionistic fuzzy distance measure. The properties of the proposed distance-based knowledge measure are investigated based on mathematical analysis and numerical examples. The proposed knowledge measure is finally applied to solve the multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problem with intuitionistic fuzzy information. The new MAGDM method is used to evaluate the threat level of malicious code. Experimental results in malicious code threat evaluation demonstrate the effectiveness and validity of proposed method.     

Fractional Deng Entropy and Extropy and Some Applications

Deng entropy and extropy are two measures useful in the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (DST) to study uncertainty, following the idea that extropy is the dual concept of entropy. In this paper, we present their fractional versions named fractional Deng entropy and extropy and compare them to other measures in the framework of DST. Here, we study the maximum for both of them and give several examples. Finally, we analyze a problem of classification in pattern recognition in order to highlight the importance of these new measures.     

An uncertain information fusion method based on possibility theory in multisource detection systems

In multisource detection systems, the information representing detection characteristics is uncertain, also the relationship between detection characteristics and detection performance has uncertainty, meanwhile the influence degrees of each characteristic on the performance are also different. In order to represent and process these uncertain information effectively, this paper proposes an uncertain information fusion method based on possibility theory. Firstly, possibility distributions of a series of characteristic parameters about sensor information are constructed, and effective detection characteristics are extracted through the similarity measurement according to the similarity based on distances. The uncertain relationship between detection characteristics and detection performance is quantified, and a certainty calculation method of possibility distributions is proposed based on the combination of holistic and local characteristics. According to the above certainty, the weights of each characteristic are obtained to achieve the fusion of possibility distributions. Finally, the metallic and nonmetallic adhesive structure is taken as a case, and this case shows that this method not only considers the differences of the various characteristics contributed on adhesive performance, but also can achieve the fusion of possibility distributions under different situations. It is a more reasonable fusion method and fits the reality well in practice, also it provides new method and new idea for the fusion of possibility distributions.     

Infrared and visible image fusion method based on saliency detection in sparse domain

Infrared and visible image fusion is a key problem in the field of multi-sensor image fusion. To better preserve the significant information of the infrared and visible images in the final fused image, the saliency maps of the source images is introduced into the fusion procedure. Firstly, under the framework of the joint sparse representation (JSR) model, the global and local saliency maps of the source images are obtained based on sparse coefficients. Then, a saliency detection model is proposed, which combines the global and local saliency maps to generate an integrated saliency map. Finally, a weighted fusion algorithm based on the integrated saliency map is developed to achieve the fusion progress. The experimental results show that our method is superior to the state-of-the-art methods in terms of several universal quality evaluation indexes, as well as in the visual quality.     

基于主元证据理论在车辆识别中的应用

车辆识别技术作为智能交通管理系统中的研究热点和难点;在车辆识别技术中,应用Dempster- Shafer证据组合规则融合冲突信息时会产生不合理的结果;基于修正证据源的思想,提出了一种新的权重系数确定方法,该方法从证据主元角度分析,确定各组证据主元,利用该主元求出证据相容度、可信度,进而确定证据权重系数;通过新的证据冲突衡量方法,确定冲突值,归一化权重,修正证据源,按ER规则融合各组证据对目标进行识别;仿真部分以实际路面车辆车型识别为算例,将该方法与其他方法对比,结果表明:该方法能更有效地融合高度冲突的证据,减小计算复杂度,目标识别的准确性提高20%。