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Advances in Multi-Sensor Information Fusion: Theory and Applications 2017

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2017) | Viewed by 172180

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Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Artificial Intelligence College, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 10048, China
Interests: multisensor fusion; statistical signal processing; video/image processing; Bayesian theory; time series analysis; artificial intelligence; target tracking and dynamic analysis
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Guest Editor
School of Electronics Engineering, Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang 150080, China
Interests: information fusion and sensor networks, state estimation, signal processing
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Guest Editor
Department of computer science, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AY, UK
Interests: intelligent computer vision and multisensor data fusion, and its applications in remotely sensed images and in face recognition (biometric)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China
Interests: infrared image processing, multi-source and heterogeneous image registration, recognition and fusion, multi-sensor uncertain information processing, possibility theory and evidence theory
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The information fusion technique can integrate a large amount of data and knowledge representing the same real-world object and obtain a consistent, accurate and useful representation of that object. The data may be independent or redundant, and can be obtained by different sensors at the same time or at different times. A suitable combination of investigative methods can substantially increase the profit of information in comparison with that from a single sensor.

Multi-sensor information fusion has been a key issue in sensor research since the 1970s and it has been applied in many fields, such as geospatial information systems, business intelligence, oceanography, discovery science, intelligent transport systems, wireless sensor networks, etc. Recently, thanks to the vast development in senor and computer memory technologies, more and more sensors are being used in practical systems and a large amount of measurement data are recorded and restored, which may actually be the "time series big data". For example, sensors in machines and process control industries can generate a lot of data, which have real, actionable business value. The fusion of these data can greatly improve productivity through digitization.

The classical multi-sensor information fusion technique can deal with a limited amount of sensor data effectively, and can even obtain optimal results in real time. However, regarding "big series time data", we have to consider how to deal with the mass of sensor data in real-time processes, how to model the multisensor system based on the huge amount of data, etc. The development of sensor systems has created many new challenges in multi-sensor information fusion theory and its application. Therefore, the innovations of information fusion still need to be studiously pursued in future research works.

The goal of this Special Issue is to report on innovative ideas and solutions for the methods of multi-sensor information fusion in the emerging applications era, focusing on development, adoption and applications.

Prof. Dr. Xue-bo Jin
Prof. Dr. Feng-bao Yang
Prof. Dr. Shuli Sun
Prof. Dr. Hong Wei
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Tracking by the big data from multi-sensor system

  • Information (speech or image, etc.) fusion processing

  • Knowledge cognitive based on multi-sensor system

  • Fusion decision theory

  • Fusion estimation and control algorithms

  • Modeling by the big data from multi-sensor system

  • The structure and/or levels of multi-sensor fusion system

  • Uncertain information integration

  • Possibility theory and other reasoning methods

  • Remote sensing data processing

  • The basic theory of the information fusion

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Published Papers (31 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 146 KiB  
Editorial
Advances in Multi-Sensor Information Fusion: Theory and Applications 2017
by Xue-Bo Jin, Shuli Sun, Hong Wei and Feng-Bao Yang
Sensors 2018, 18(4), 1162; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18041162 - 11 Apr 2018
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3715
Abstract
The information fusion technique can integrate a large amount of data and knowledge representing the same real-world object and obtain a consistent, accurate, and useful representation of that object. The data may be independent or redundant, and can be obtained by different sensors [...] Read more.
The information fusion technique can integrate a large amount of data and knowledge representing the same real-world object and obtain a consistent, accurate, and useful representation of that object. The data may be independent or redundant, and can be obtained by different sensors at the same time or at different times. A suitable combination of investigative methods can substantially increase the profit of information in comparison with that from a single sensor. Multi-sensor information fusion has been a key issue in sensor research since the 1970s, and it has been applied in many fields. For example, manufacturing and process control industries can generate a lot of data, which have real, actionable business value. The fusion of these data can greatly improve productivity through digitization. The goal of this special issue is to report innovative ideas and solutions for multi-sensor information fusion in the emerging applications era, focusing on development, adoption, and applications. Full article

Research

Jump to: Editorial

1952 KiB  
Article
A General Framework for 3-D Parameters Estimation of Roads Using GPS, OSM and DEM Data
by Christophe Boucher and Jean-Charles Noyer
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18010041 - 25 Dec 2017
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4070
Abstract
A growing number of applications needs GIS mapping information and commercial 3-D roadmaps especially. This paper presents a solution of accessing freely to 3-D map information and updating in the context of transport applications. The method relies on the OSM road networks that [...] Read more.
A growing number of applications needs GIS mapping information and commercial 3-D roadmaps especially. This paper presents a solution of accessing freely to 3-D map information and updating in the context of transport applications. The method relies on the OSM road networks that is 2-D modeled intrinsically. The objective is to estimate the road elevation and inclination parameters by fusing GPS, OSM and DEM data through a nonlinear filter. An experimental framework, using ASTER GDEM2 data, shows some results of the improvement of the roads modeling that includes their slopes also. The map database can be enriched with the estimated inclinations. The accuracy depends on the GPS and DEM elevation errors (typically a few meters with the GNSS sensors used and the DEM under consideration). Full article
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6665 KiB  
Article
Heterogeneous Data Fusion Method to Estimate Travel Time Distributions in Congested Road Networks
by Chaoyang Shi, Bi Yu Chen, William H. K. Lam and Qingquan Li
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2822; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122822 - 6 Dec 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5364
Abstract
Travel times in congested urban road networks are highly stochastic. Provision of travel time distribution information, including both mean and variance, can be very useful for travelers to make reliable path choice decisions to ensure higher probability of on-time arrival. To this end, [...] Read more.
Travel times in congested urban road networks are highly stochastic. Provision of travel time distribution information, including both mean and variance, can be very useful for travelers to make reliable path choice decisions to ensure higher probability of on-time arrival. To this end, a heterogeneous data fusion method is proposed to estimate travel time distributions by fusing heterogeneous data from point and interval detectors. In the proposed method, link travel time distributions are first estimated from point detector observations. The travel time distributions of links without point detectors are imputed based on their spatial correlations with links that have point detectors. The estimated link travel time distributions are then fused with path travel time distributions obtained from the interval detectors using Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. Based on fused path travel time distribution, an optimization technique is further introduced to update link travel time distributions and their spatial correlations. A case study was performed using real-world data from Hong Kong and showed that the proposed method obtained accurate and robust estimations of link and path travel time distributions in congested road networks. Full article
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2158 KiB  
Article
IMU-Based Gait Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Networks and Multi-Sensor Fusion
by Omid Dehzangi, Mojtaba Taherisadr and Raghvendar ChangalVala
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2735; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122735 - 27 Nov 2017
Cited by 154 | Viewed by 14408
Abstract
The wide spread usage of wearable sensors such as in smart watches has provided continuous access to valuable user generated data such as human motion that could be used to identify an individual based on his/her motion patterns such as, gait. Several methods [...] Read more.
The wide spread usage of wearable sensors such as in smart watches has provided continuous access to valuable user generated data such as human motion that could be used to identify an individual based on his/her motion patterns such as, gait. Several methods have been suggested to extract various heuristic and high-level features from gait motion data to identify discriminative gait signatures and distinguish the target individual from others. However, the manual and hand crafted feature extraction is error prone and subjective. Furthermore, the motion data collected from inertial sensors have complex structure and the detachment between manual feature extraction module and the predictive learning models might limit the generalization capabilities. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for human gait identification using time-frequency (TF) expansion of human gait cycles in order to capture joint 2 dimensional (2D) spectral and temporal patterns of gait cycles. Then, we design a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) learning to extract discriminative features from the 2D expanded gait cycles and jointly optimize the identification model and the spectro-temporal features in a discriminative fashion. We collect raw motion data from five inertial sensors placed at the chest, lower-back, right hand wrist, right knee, and right ankle of each human subject synchronously in order to investigate the impact of sensor location on the gait identification performance. We then present two methods for early (input level) and late (decision score level) multi-sensor fusion to improve the gait identification generalization performance. We specifically propose the minimum error score fusion (MESF) method that discriminatively learns the linear fusion weights of individual DCNN scores at the decision level by minimizing the error rate on the training data in an iterative manner. 10 subjects participated in this study and hence, the problem is a 10-class identification task. Based on our experimental results, 91% subject identification accuracy was achieved using the best individual IMU and 2DTF-DCNN. We then investigated our proposed early and late sensor fusion approaches, which improved the gait identification accuracy of the system to 93.36% and 97.06%, respectively. Full article
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1955 KiB  
Article
Model-Based Heterogeneous Data Fusion for Reliable Force Estimation in Dynamic Structures under Uncertainties
by Babak Khodabandeloo, Dyan Melvin and Hongki Jo
Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2656; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17112656 - 17 Nov 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5217
Abstract
Direct measurements of external forces acting on a structure are infeasible in many cases. The Augmented Kalman Filter (AKF) has several attractive features that can be utilized to solve the inverse problem of identifying applied forces, as it requires the dynamic model and [...] Read more.
Direct measurements of external forces acting on a structure are infeasible in many cases. The Augmented Kalman Filter (AKF) has several attractive features that can be utilized to solve the inverse problem of identifying applied forces, as it requires the dynamic model and the measured responses of structure at only a few locations. But, the AKF intrinsically suffers from numerical instabilities when accelerations, which are the most common response measurements in structural dynamics, are the only measured responses. Although displacement measurements can be used to overcome the instability issue, the absolute displacement measurements are challenging and expensive for full-scale dynamic structures. In this paper, a reliable model-based data fusion approach to reconstruct dynamic forces applied to structures using heterogeneous structural measurements (i.e., strains and accelerations) in combination with AKF is investigated. The way of incorporating multi-sensor measurements in the AKF is formulated. Then the formulation is implemented and validated through numerical examples considering possible uncertainties in numerical modeling and sensor measurement. A planar truss example was chosen to clearly explain the formulation, while the method and formulation are applicable to other structures as well. Full article
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10557 KiB  
Article
Integrated Display and Simulation for Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast and Traffic Collision Avoidance System Data Fusion
by Yanran Wang, Gang Xiao and Zhouyun Dai
Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2611; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17112611 - 13 Nov 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 7240
Abstract
Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) is the direction of airspace surveillance development. Research analyzing the benefits of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and ADS-B data fusion is almost absent. The paper proposes an ADS-B minimum system from ADS-B In and ADS-B Out. In ADS-B [...] Read more.
Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) is the direction of airspace surveillance development. Research analyzing the benefits of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and ADS-B data fusion is almost absent. The paper proposes an ADS-B minimum system from ADS-B In and ADS-B Out. In ADS-B In, a fusion model with a variable sampling Variational Bayesian-Interacting Multiple Model (VSVB-IMM) algorithm is proposed for integrated display and an airspace traffic situation display is developed by using ADS-B information. ADS-B Out includes ADS-B Out transmission based on a simulator platform and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform. This paper describes the overall implementation of ADS-B minimum system, including theoretical model design, experimental simulation verification, engineering implementation, results analysis, etc. Simulation and implementation results show that the fused system has better performance than each independent subsystem and it can work well in engineering applications. Full article
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2712 KiB  
Article
Centralized Multi-Sensor Square Root Cubature Joint Probabilistic Data Association
by Yu Liu, Jun Liu, Gang Li, Lin Qi, Yaowen Li and You He
Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2546; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17112546 - 5 Nov 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4019
Abstract
This paper focuses on the tracking problem of multiple targets with multiple sensors in a nonlinear cluttered environment. To avoid Jacobian matrix computation and scaling parameter adjustment, improve numerical stability, and acquire more accurate estimated results for centralized nonlinear tracking, a novel centralized [...] Read more.
This paper focuses on the tracking problem of multiple targets with multiple sensors in a nonlinear cluttered environment. To avoid Jacobian matrix computation and scaling parameter adjustment, improve numerical stability, and acquire more accurate estimated results for centralized nonlinear tracking, a novel centralized multi-sensor square root cubature joint probabilistic data association algorithm (CMSCJPDA) is proposed. Firstly, the multi-sensor tracking problem is decomposed into several single-sensor multi-target tracking problems, which are sequentially processed during the estimation. Then, in each sensor, the assignment of its measurements to target tracks is accomplished on the basis of joint probabilistic data association (JPDA), and a weighted probability fusion method with square root version of a cubature Kalman filter (SRCKF) is utilized to estimate the targets’ state. With the measurements in all sensors processed CMSCJPDA is derived and the global estimated state is achieved. Experimental results show that CMSCJPDA is superior to the state-of-the-art algorithms in the aspects of tracking accuracy, numerical stability, and computational cost, which provides a new idea to solve multi-sensor tracking problems. Full article
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1094 KiB  
Article
A Novel Evidence Theory and Fuzzy Preference Approach-Based Multi-Sensor Data Fusion Technique for Fault Diagnosis
by Fuyuan Xiao
Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2504; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17112504 - 31 Oct 2017
Cited by 83 | Viewed by 5702
Abstract
The multi-sensor data fusion technique plays a significant role in fault diagnosis and in a variety of such applications, and the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is employed to improve the system performance; whereas, it may generate a counter-intuitive result when the pieces of evidence [...] Read more.
The multi-sensor data fusion technique plays a significant role in fault diagnosis and in a variety of such applications, and the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is employed to improve the system performance; whereas, it may generate a counter-intuitive result when the pieces of evidence highly conflict with each other. To handle this problem, a novel multi-sensor data fusion approach on the basis of the distance of evidence, belief entropy and fuzzy preference relation analysis is proposed. A function of evidence distance is first leveraged to measure the conflict degree among the pieces of evidence; thus, the support degree can be obtained to represent the reliability of the evidence. Next, the uncertainty of each piece of evidence is measured by means of the belief entropy. Based on the quantitative uncertainty measured above, the fuzzy preference relations are applied to represent the relative credibility preference of the evidence. Afterwards, the support degree of each piece of evidence is adjusted by taking advantage of the relative credibility preference of the evidence that can be utilized to generate an appropriate weight with respect to each piece of evidence. Finally, the modified weights of the evidence are adopted to adjust the bodies of the evidence in the advance of utilizing Dempster’s combination rule. A numerical example and a practical application in fault diagnosis are used as illustrations to demonstrate that the proposal is reasonable and efficient in the management of conflict and fault diagnosis. Full article
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1568 KiB  
Article
Research on the Fusion of Dependent Evidence Based on Rank Correlation Coefficient
by Fengjian Shi, Xiaoyan Su, Hong Qian, Ning Yang and Wenhua Han
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2362; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102362 - 16 Oct 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3772
Abstract
In order to meet the higher accuracy and system reliability requirements, the information fusion for multi-sensor systems is an increasing concern. Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (D–S theory) has been investigated for many applications in multi-sensor information fusion due to its flexibility in uncertainty modeling. [...] Read more.
In order to meet the higher accuracy and system reliability requirements, the information fusion for multi-sensor systems is an increasing concern. Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (D–S theory) has been investigated for many applications in multi-sensor information fusion due to its flexibility in uncertainty modeling. However, classical evidence theory assumes that the evidence is independent of each other, which is often unrealistic. Ignoring the relationship between the evidence may lead to unreasonable fusion results, and even lead to wrong decisions. This assumption severely prevents D–S evidence theory from practical application and further development. In this paper, an innovative evidence fusion model to deal with dependent evidence based on rank correlation coefficient is proposed. The model first uses rank correlation coefficient to measure the dependence degree between different evidence. Then, total discount coefficient is obtained based on the dependence degree, which also considers the impact of the reliability of evidence. Finally, the discount evidence fusion model is presented. An example is illustrated to show the use and effectiveness of the proposed method. Full article
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2912 KiB  
Article
Cooperative Localization for Multi-AUVs Based on GM-PHD Filters and Information Entropy Theory
by Lichuan Zhang, Tonghao Wang, Feihu Zhang and Demin Xu
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2286; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102286 - 8 Oct 2017
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4406
Abstract
Cooperative localization (CL) is considered a promising method for underwater localization with respect to multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (multi-AUVs). In this paper, we proposed a CL algorithm based on information entropy theory and the probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter, aiming to enhance the [...] Read more.
Cooperative localization (CL) is considered a promising method for underwater localization with respect to multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (multi-AUVs). In this paper, we proposed a CL algorithm based on information entropy theory and the probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter, aiming to enhance the global localization accuracy of the follower. In the proposed framework, the follower carries lower cost navigation systems, whereas the leaders carry better ones. Meanwhile, the leaders acquire the followers’ observations, including both measurements and clutter. Then, the PHD filters are utilized on the leaders and the results are communicated to the followers. The followers then perform weighted summation based on all received messages and obtain a final positioning result. Based on the information entropy theory and the PHD filter, the follower is able to acquire a precise knowledge of its position. Full article
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2125 KiB  
Article
A Clustering-Oriented Closeness Measure Based on Neighborhood Chain and Its Application in the Clustering Ensemble Framework Based on the Fusion of Different Closeness Measures
by Shaoyi Liang and Deqiang Han
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2226; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102226 - 28 Sep 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4109
Abstract
Closeness measures are crucial to clustering methods. In most traditional clustering methods, the closeness between data points or clusters is measured by the geometric distance alone. These metrics quantify the closeness only based on the concerned data points’ positions in the feature space, [...] Read more.
Closeness measures are crucial to clustering methods. In most traditional clustering methods, the closeness between data points or clusters is measured by the geometric distance alone. These metrics quantify the closeness only based on the concerned data points’ positions in the feature space, and they might cause problems when dealing with clustering tasks having arbitrary clusters shapes and different clusters densities. In this paper, we first propose a novel Closeness Measure between data points based on the Neighborhood Chain (CMNC). Instead of using geometric distances alone, CMNC measures the closeness between data points by quantifying the difficulty for one data point to reach another through a chain of neighbors. Furthermore, based on CMNC, we also propose a clustering ensemble framework that combines CMNC and geometric-distance-based closeness measures together in order to utilize both of their advantages. In this framework, the “bad data points” that are hard to cluster correctly are identified; then different closeness measures are applied to different types of data points to get the unified clustering results. With the fusion of different closeness measures, the framework can get not only better clustering results in complicated clustering tasks, but also higher efficiency. Full article
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1512 KiB  
Article
A Weighted Measurement Fusion Particle Filter for Nonlinear Multisensory Systems Based on Gauss–Hermite Approximation
by Yun Li, Shu Li Sun and Gang Hao
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2222; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102222 - 28 Sep 2017
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4076
Abstract
We addressed the fusion estimation problem for nonlinear multisensory systems. Based on the Gauss–Hermite approximation and weighted least square criterion, an augmented high-dimension measurement from all sensors was compressed into a lower dimension. By combining the low-dimension measurement function with the particle filter [...] Read more.
We addressed the fusion estimation problem for nonlinear multisensory systems. Based on the Gauss–Hermite approximation and weighted least square criterion, an augmented high-dimension measurement from all sensors was compressed into a lower dimension. By combining the low-dimension measurement function with the particle filter (PF), a weighted measurement fusion PF (WMF-PF) is presented. The accuracy of WMF-PF appears good and has a lower computational cost when compared to centralized fusion PF (CF-PF). An example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. Full article
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1628 KiB  
Article
Tracking of Maneuvering Complex Extended Object with Coupled Motion Kinematics and Extension Dynamics Using Range Extent Measurements
by Lifan Sun, Baofeng Ji, Jian Lan, Zishu He and Jiexin Pu
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2184; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102184 - 22 Sep 2017
Viewed by 4297
Abstract
The key to successful maneuvering complex extended object tracking (MCEOT) using range extent measurements provided by high resolution sensors lies in accurate and effective modeling of both the extension dynamics and the centroid kinematics. During object maneuvers, the extension dynamics of an object [...] Read more.
The key to successful maneuvering complex extended object tracking (MCEOT) using range extent measurements provided by high resolution sensors lies in accurate and effective modeling of both the extension dynamics and the centroid kinematics. During object maneuvers, the extension dynamics of an object with a complex shape is highly coupled with the centroid kinematics. However, this difficult but important problem is rarely considered and solved explicitly. In view of this, this paper proposes a general approach to modeling a maneuvering complex extended object based on Minkowski sum, so that the coupled turn maneuvers in both the centroid states and extensions can be described accurately. The new model has a concise and unified form, in which the complex extension dynamics can be simply and jointly characterized by multiple simple sub-objects’ extension dynamics based on Minkowski sum. The proposed maneuvering model fits range extent measurements very well due to its favorable properties. Based on this model, an MCEOT algorithm dealing with motion and extension maneuvers is also derived. Two different cases of the turn maneuvers with known/unknown turn rates are specifically considered. The proposed algorithm which jointly estimates the kinematic state and the object extension can also be easily implemented. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and tracking approaches. Full article
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5382 KiB  
Article
Complete Systematic Error Model of SSR for Sensor Registration in ATC Surveillance Networks
by Ángel J. Jarama, Jaime López-Araquistain, Gonzalo de Miguel and Juan A. Besada
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2171; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102171 - 21 Sep 2017
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5820
Abstract
In this paper, a complete and rigorous mathematical model for secondary surveillance radar systematic errors (biases) is developed. The model takes into account the physical effects systematically affecting the measurement processes. The azimuth biases are calculated from the physical error of the antenna [...] Read more.
In this paper, a complete and rigorous mathematical model for secondary surveillance radar systematic errors (biases) is developed. The model takes into account the physical effects systematically affecting the measurement processes. The azimuth biases are calculated from the physical error of the antenna calibration and the errors of the angle determination dispositive. Distance bias is calculated from the delay of the signal produced by the refractivity index of the atmosphere, and from clock errors, while the altitude bias is calculated taking into account the atmosphere conditions (pressure and temperature). It will be shown, using simulated and real data, that adapting a classical bias estimation process to use the complete parametrized model results in improved accuracy in the bias estimation. Full article
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415 KiB  
Article
An Improved Evidential-IOWA Sensor Data Fusion Approach in Fault Diagnosis
by Yongchuan Tang, Deyun Zhou, Miaoyan Zhuang, Xueyi Fang and Chunhe Xie
Sensors 2017, 17(9), 2143; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17092143 - 18 Sep 2017
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4534
Abstract
As an important tool of information fusion, Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely applied in handling the uncertain information in fault diagnosis. However, an incorrect result may be obtained if the combined evidence is highly conflicting, which may leads to failure in locating the [...] Read more.
As an important tool of information fusion, Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely applied in handling the uncertain information in fault diagnosis. However, an incorrect result may be obtained if the combined evidence is highly conflicting, which may leads to failure in locating the fault. To deal with the problem, an improved evidential-Induced Ordered Weighted Averaging (IOWA) sensor data fusion approach is proposed in the frame of Dempster–Shafer evidence theory. In the new method, the IOWA operator is used to determine the weight of different sensor data source, while determining the parameter of the IOWA, both the distance of evidence and the belief entropy are taken into consideration. First, based on the global distance of evidence and the global belief entropy, the α value of IOWA is obtained. Simultaneously, a weight vector is given based on the maximum entropy method model. Then, according to IOWA operator, the evidence are modified before applying the Dempster’s combination rule. The proposed method has a better performance in conflict management and fault diagnosis due to the fact that the information volume of each evidence is taken into consideration. A numerical example and a case study in fault diagnosis are presented to show the rationality and efficiency of the proposed method. Full article
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2404 KiB  
Article
A Robust Vehicle Localization Approach Based on GNSS/IMU/DMI/LiDAR Sensor Fusion for Autonomous Vehicles
by Xiaoli Meng, Heng Wang and Bingbing Liu
Sensors 2017, 17(9), 2140; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17092140 - 18 Sep 2017
Cited by 102 | Viewed by 14267
Abstract
Precise and robust localization in a large-scale outdoor environment is essential for an autonomous vehicle. In order to improve the performance of the fusion of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)/IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit)/DMI (Distance-Measuring Instruments), a multi-constraint fault detection approach is proposed to [...] Read more.
Precise and robust localization in a large-scale outdoor environment is essential for an autonomous vehicle. In order to improve the performance of the fusion of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)/IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit)/DMI (Distance-Measuring Instruments), a multi-constraint fault detection approach is proposed to smooth the vehicle locations in spite of GNSS jumps. Furthermore, the lateral localization error is compensated by the point cloud-based lateral localization method proposed in this paper. Experiment results have verified the algorithms proposed in this paper, which shows that the algorithms proposed in this paper are capable of providing precise and robust vehicle localization. Full article
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6340 KiB  
Article
Modeling of BN Lifetime Prediction of a System Based on Integrated Multi-Level Information
by Jingbin Wang, Xiaohong Wang and Lizhi Wang
Sensors 2017, 17(9), 2123; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17092123 - 15 Sep 2017
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4552
Abstract
Predicting system lifetime is important to ensure safe and reliable operation of products, which requires integrated modeling based on multi-level, multi-sensor information. However, lifetime characteristics of equipment in a system are different and failure mechanisms are inter-coupled, which leads to complex logical correlations [...] Read more.
Predicting system lifetime is important to ensure safe and reliable operation of products, which requires integrated modeling based on multi-level, multi-sensor information. However, lifetime characteristics of equipment in a system are different and failure mechanisms are inter-coupled, which leads to complex logical correlations and the lack of a uniform lifetime measure. Based on a Bayesian network (BN), a lifetime prediction method for systems that combine multi-level sensor information is proposed. The method considers the correlation between accidental failures and degradation failure mechanisms, and achieves system modeling and lifetime prediction under complex logic correlations. This method is applied in the lifetime prediction of a multi-level solar-powered unmanned system, and the predicted results can provide guidance for the improvement of system reliability and for the maintenance and protection of the system. Full article
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821 KiB  
Article
Fuzzy Risk Evaluation in Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Using a D Numbers Based Multi-Sensor Information Fusion Method
by Xinyang Deng and Wen Jiang
Sensors 2017, 17(9), 2086; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17092086 - 12 Sep 2017
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 6037
Abstract
Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a useful tool to define, identify, and eliminate potential failures or errors so as to improve the reliability of systems, designs, and products. Risk evaluation is an important issue in FMEA to determine the risk priorities [...] Read more.
Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a useful tool to define, identify, and eliminate potential failures or errors so as to improve the reliability of systems, designs, and products. Risk evaluation is an important issue in FMEA to determine the risk priorities of failure modes. There are some shortcomings in the traditional risk priority number (RPN) approach for risk evaluation in FMEA, and fuzzy risk evaluation has become an important research direction that attracts increasing attention. In this paper, the fuzzy risk evaluation in FMEA is studied from a perspective of multi-sensor information fusion. By considering the non-exclusiveness between the evaluations of fuzzy linguistic variables to failure modes, a novel model called D numbers is used to model the non-exclusive fuzzy evaluations. A D numbers based multi-sensor information fusion method is proposed to establish a new model for fuzzy risk evaluation in FMEA. An illustrative example is provided and examined using the proposed model and other existing method to show the effectiveness of the proposed model. Full article
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1336 KiB  
Article
A Time-Space Domain Information Fusion Method for Specific Emitter Identification Based on Dempster–Shafer Evidence Theory
by Wen Jiang, Ying Cao, Lin Yang and Zichang He
Sensors 2017, 17(9), 1972; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17091972 - 28 Aug 2017
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5422
Abstract
Specific emitter identification plays an important role in contemporary military affairs. However, most of the existing specific emitter identification methods haven’t taken into account the processing of uncertain information. Therefore, this paper proposes a time–space domain information fusion method based on Dempster–Shafer evidence [...] Read more.
Specific emitter identification plays an important role in contemporary military affairs. However, most of the existing specific emitter identification methods haven’t taken into account the processing of uncertain information. Therefore, this paper proposes a time–space domain information fusion method based on Dempster–Shafer evidence theory, which has the ability to deal with uncertain information in the process of specific emitter identification. In this paper, radars will generate a group of evidence respectively based on the information they obtained, and our main task is to fuse the multiple groups of evidence to get a reasonable result. Within the framework of recursive centralized fusion model, the proposed method incorporates a correlation coefficient, which measures the relevance between evidence and a quantum mechanical approach, which is based on the parameters of radar itself. The simulation results of an illustrative example demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively deal with uncertain information and get a reasonable recognition result. Full article
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2488 KiB  
Article
Online Denoising Based on the Second-Order Adaptive Statistics Model
by Sheng-Lun Yi, Xue-Bo Jin, Ting-Li Su, Zhen-Yun Tang, Fa-Fa Wang, Na Xiang and Jian-Lei Kong
Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1668; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071668 - 20 Jul 2017
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5091
Abstract
Online denoising is motivated by real-time applications in the industrial process, where the data must be utilizable soon after it is collected. Since the noise in practical process is usually colored, it is quite a challenge for denoising techniques. In this paper, a [...] Read more.
Online denoising is motivated by real-time applications in the industrial process, where the data must be utilizable soon after it is collected. Since the noise in practical process is usually colored, it is quite a challenge for denoising techniques. In this paper, a novel online denoising method was proposed to achieve the processing of the practical measurement data with colored noise, and the characteristics of the colored noise were considered in the dynamic model via an adaptive parameter. The proposed method consists of two parts within a closed loop: the first one is to estimate the system state based on the second-order adaptive statistics model and the other is to update the adaptive parameter in the model using the Yule–Walker algorithm. Specifically, the state estimation process was implemented via the Kalman filter in a recursive way, and the online purpose was therefore attained. Experimental data in a reinforced concrete structure test was used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results show the proposed method not only dealt with the signals with colored noise, but also achieved a tradeoff between efficiency and accuracy. Full article
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1264 KiB  
Article
A Reliability-Based Method to Sensor Data Fusion
by Wen Jiang, Miaoyan Zhuang and Chunhe Xie
Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071575 - 5 Jul 2017
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5507
Abstract
Multi-sensor data fusion technology based on Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely applied in many fields. However, how to determine basic belief assignment (BBA) is still an open issue. The existing BBA methods pay more attention to the uncertainty of information, but do not [...] Read more.
Multi-sensor data fusion technology based on Dempster–Shafer evidence theory is widely applied in many fields. However, how to determine basic belief assignment (BBA) is still an open issue. The existing BBA methods pay more attention to the uncertainty of information, but do not simultaneously consider the reliability of information sources. Real-world information is not only uncertain, but also partially reliable. Thus, uncertainty and partial reliability are strongly associated with each other. To take into account this fact, a new method to represent BBAs along with their associated reliabilities is proposed in this paper, which is named reliability-based BBA. Several examples are carried out to show the validity of the proposed method. Full article
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3295 KiB  
Article
Multisensor Parallel Largest Ellipsoid Distributed Data Fusion with Unknown Cross-Covariances
by Baoyu Liu, Xingqun Zhan and Zheng H. Zhu
Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1526; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17071526 - 29 Jun 2017
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4679
Abstract
As the largest ellipsoid (LE) data fusion algorithm can only be applied to two-sensor system, in this contribution, parallel fusion structure is proposed to introduce the LE algorithm into a multisensor system with unknown cross-covariances, and three parallel fusion structures based on different [...] Read more.
As the largest ellipsoid (LE) data fusion algorithm can only be applied to two-sensor system, in this contribution, parallel fusion structure is proposed to introduce the LE algorithm into a multisensor system with unknown cross-covariances, and three parallel fusion structures based on different estimate pairing methods are presented and analyzed. In order to assess the influence of fusion structure on fusion performance, two fusion performance assessment parameters are defined as Fusion Distance and Fusion Index. Moreover, the formula for calculating the upper bounds of actual fused error covariances of the presented multisensor LE fusers is also provided. Demonstrated with simulation examples, the Fusion Index indicates fuser’s actual fused accuracy and its sensitivity to the sensor orders, as well as its robustness to the accuracy of newly added sensors. Compared to the LE fuser with sequential structure, the LE fusers with proposed parallel structures not only significantly improve their properties in these aspects, but also embrace better performances in consistency and computation efficiency. The presented multisensor LE fusers generally have better accuracies than that of covariance intersection (CI) fusion algorithm and are consistent when the local estimates are weakly correlated. Full article
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486 KiB  
Article
Optimal Fusion Estimation with Multi-Step Random Delays and Losses in Transmission
by Raquel Caballero-Águila, Aurora Hermoso-Carazo and Josefa Linares-Pérez
Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1151; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051151 - 18 May 2017
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4166
Abstract
This paper is concerned with the optimal fusion estimation problem in networked stochastic systems with bounded random delays and packet dropouts, which unavoidably occur during the data transmission in the network. The measured outputs from each sensor are perturbed by random parameter matrices [...] Read more.
This paper is concerned with the optimal fusion estimation problem in networked stochastic systems with bounded random delays and packet dropouts, which unavoidably occur during the data transmission in the network. The measured outputs from each sensor are perturbed by random parameter matrices and white additive noises, which are cross-correlated between the different sensors. Least-squares fusion linear estimators including filter, predictor and fixed-point smoother, as well as the corresponding estimation error covariance matrices are designed via the innovation analysis approach. The proposed recursive algorithms depend on the delay probabilities at each sampling time, but do not to need to know if a particular measurement is delayed or not. Moreover, the knowledge of the signal evolution model is not required, as the algorithms need only the first and second order moments of the processes involved. Some of the practical situations covered by the proposed system model with random parameter matrices are analyzed and the influence of the delays in the estimation accuracy are examined in a numerical example. Full article
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8015 KiB  
Article
Development of Data Registration and Fusion Methods for Measurement of Ultra-Precision Freeform Surfaces
by Ling Bao Kong, Ming Jun Ren and Min Xu
Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1110; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051110 - 12 May 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5020
Abstract
The measurement of ultra-precision freeform surfaces commonly requires several datasets from different sensors to realize holistic measurements with high efficiency. The effectiveness of the technology heavily depends on the quality of the data registration and fusion in the measurement process. This paper presents [...] Read more.
The measurement of ultra-precision freeform surfaces commonly requires several datasets from different sensors to realize holistic measurements with high efficiency. The effectiveness of the technology heavily depends on the quality of the data registration and fusion in the measurement process. This paper presents methods and algorithms to address these issues. An intrinsic feature pattern is proposed to represent the geometry of the measured datasets so that the registration of the datasets in 3D space is casted as a feature pattern registration problem in a 2D plane. The accuracy of the overlapping area is further improved by developing a Gaussian process based data fusion method with full consideration of the associated uncertainties in the measured datasets. Experimental studies are undertaken to examine the effectiveness of the proposed method. The study should contribute to the high precision and efficient measurement of ultra-precision freeform surfaces on multi-sensor systems. Full article
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366 KiB  
Article
Flexible Fusion Structure-Based Performance Optimization Learning for Multisensor Target Tracking
by Quanbo Ge, Zhongliang Wei, Tianfa Cheng, Shaodong Chen and Xiangfeng Wang
Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1045; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051045 - 6 May 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3805
Abstract
Compared with the fixed fusion structure, the flexible fusion structure with mixed fusion methods has better adjustment performance for the complex air task network systems, and it can effectively help the system to achieve the goal under the given constraints. Because of the [...] Read more.
Compared with the fixed fusion structure, the flexible fusion structure with mixed fusion methods has better adjustment performance for the complex air task network systems, and it can effectively help the system to achieve the goal under the given constraints. Because of the time-varying situation of the task network system induced by moving nodes and non-cooperative target, and limitations such as communication bandwidth and measurement distance, it is necessary to dynamically adjust the system fusion structure including sensors and fusion methods in a given adjustment period. Aiming at this, this paper studies the design of a flexible fusion algorithm by using an optimization learning technology. The purpose is to dynamically determine the sensors’ numbers and the associated sensors to take part in the centralized and distributed fusion processes, respectively, herein termed sensor subsets selection. Firstly, two system performance indexes are introduced. Especially, the survivability index is presented and defined. Secondly, based on the two indexes and considering other conditions such as communication bandwidth and measurement distance, optimization models for both single target tracking and multi-target tracking are established. Correspondingly, solution steps are given for the two optimization models in detail. Simulation examples are demonstrated to validate the proposed algorithms. Full article
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1247 KiB  
Article
Auxiliary Truncated Unscented Kalman Filtering for Bearings-Only Maneuvering Target Tracking
by Liang-Qun Li, Xiao-Li Wang, Zong-Xiang Liu and Wei-Xin Xie
Sensors 2017, 17(5), 972; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17050972 - 27 Apr 2017
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4817
Abstract
Novel auxiliary truncated unscented Kalman filtering (ATUKF) is proposed for bearings-only maneuvering target tracking in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, to deal with arbitrary changes in motion models, a modified prior probability density function (PDF) is derived based on some auxiliary target [...] Read more.
Novel auxiliary truncated unscented Kalman filtering (ATUKF) is proposed for bearings-only maneuvering target tracking in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, to deal with arbitrary changes in motion models, a modified prior probability density function (PDF) is derived based on some auxiliary target characteristics and current measurements. Then, the modified prior PDF is approximated as a Gaussian density by using the statistical linear regression (SLR) to estimate the mean and covariance. In order to track bearings-only maneuvering target, the posterior PDF is jointly estimated based on the prior probability density function and the modified prior probability density function, and a practical algorithm is developed. Finally, compared with other nonlinear filtering approaches, the experimental results of the proposed algorithm show a significant improvement for both the univariate nonstationary growth model (UNGM) case and bearings-only target tracking case. Full article
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3015 KiB  
Article
State Estimation Using Dependent Evidence Fusion: Application to Acoustic Resonance-Based Liquid Level Measurement
by Xiaobin Xu, Zhenghui Li, Guo Li and Zhe Zhou
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 924; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17040924 - 21 Apr 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4120
Abstract
Estimating the state of a dynamic system via noisy sensor measurement is a common problem in sensor methods and applications. Most state estimation methods assume that measurement noise and state perturbations can be modeled as random variables with known statistical properties. However in [...] Read more.
Estimating the state of a dynamic system via noisy sensor measurement is a common problem in sensor methods and applications. Most state estimation methods assume that measurement noise and state perturbations can be modeled as random variables with known statistical properties. However in some practical applications, engineers can only get the range of noises, instead of the precise statistical distributions. Hence, in the framework of Dempster-Shafer (DS) evidence theory, a novel state estimatation method by fusing dependent evidence generated from state equation, observation equation and the actual observations of the system states considering bounded noises is presented. It can be iteratively implemented to provide state estimation values calculated from fusion results at every time step. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a low-frequency acoustic resonance level gauge to obtain high-accuracy measurement results. Full article
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402 KiB  
Article
Random Finite Set Based Bayesian Filtering with OpenCL in a Heterogeneous Platform
by Biao Hu, Uzair Sharif, Rajat Koner, Guang Chen, Kai Huang, Feihu Zhang, Walter Stechele and Alois Knoll
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 843; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17040843 - 12 Apr 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4650
Abstract
While most filtering approaches based on random finite sets have focused on improving performance, in this paper, we argue that computation times are very important in order to enable real-time applications such as pedestrian detection. Towards this goal, this paper investigates the use [...] Read more.
While most filtering approaches based on random finite sets have focused on improving performance, in this paper, we argue that computation times are very important in order to enable real-time applications such as pedestrian detection. Towards this goal, this paper investigates the use of OpenCL to accelerate the computation of random finite set-based Bayesian filtering in a heterogeneous system. In detail, we developed an efficient and fully-functional pedestrian-tracking system implementation, which can run under real-time constraints, meanwhile offering decent tracking accuracy. An extensive evaluation analysis was carried out to ensure the fulfillment of sufficient accuracy requirements. This was followed by extensive profiling analysis to spot the potential bottlenecks in terms of execution performance, which were then targeted to come up with an OpenCL accelerated application. Video-throughput improvements from roughly 15 fps to 100 fps (6×) were observed on average while processing typical MOT benchmark videos. Moreover, the worst-case frame processing yielded an 18× advantage from nearly 2 fps to 36 fps, thereby comfortably meeting the real-time constraints. Our implementation is released as open-source code. Full article
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804 KiB  
Article
Strong Tracking Spherical Simplex-Radial Cubature Kalman Filter for Maneuvering Target Tracking
by Hua Liu and Wen Wu
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 741; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17040741 - 31 Mar 2017
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 4827
Abstract
Conventional spherical simplex-radial cubature Kalman filter (SSRCKF) for maneuvering target tracking may decline in accuracy and even diverge when a target makes abrupt state changes. To overcome this problem, a novel algorithm named strong tracking spherical simplex-radial cubature Kalman filter (STSSRCKF) is proposed [...] Read more.
Conventional spherical simplex-radial cubature Kalman filter (SSRCKF) for maneuvering target tracking may decline in accuracy and even diverge when a target makes abrupt state changes. To overcome this problem, a novel algorithm named strong tracking spherical simplex-radial cubature Kalman filter (STSSRCKF) is proposed in this paper. The proposed algorithm uses the spherical simplex-radial (SSR) rule to obtain a higher accuracy than cubature Kalman filter (CKF) algorithm. Meanwhile, by introducing strong tracking filter (STF) into SSRCKF and modifying the predicted states’ error covariance with a time-varying fading factor, the gain matrix is adjusted on line so that the robustness of the filter and the capability of dealing with uncertainty factors is improved. In this way, the proposed algorithm has the advantages of both STF’s strong robustness and SSRCKF’s high accuracy. Finally, a maneuvering target tracking problem with abrupt state changes is used to test the performance of the proposed filter. Simulation results show that the STSSRCKF algorithm can get better estimation accuracy and greater robustness for maneuvering target tracking. Full article
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3130 KiB  
Article
Object Tracking Using Local Multiple Features and a Posterior Probability Measure
by Wenhua Guo, Zuren Feng and Xiaodong Ren
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 739; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17040739 - 31 Mar 2017
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4798
Abstract
Object tracking has remained a challenging problem in recent years. Most of the trackers can not work well, especially when dealing with problems such as similarly colored backgrounds, object occlusions, low illumination, or sudden illumination changes in real scenes. A centroid iteration algorithm [...] Read more.
Object tracking has remained a challenging problem in recent years. Most of the trackers can not work well, especially when dealing with problems such as similarly colored backgrounds, object occlusions, low illumination, or sudden illumination changes in real scenes. A centroid iteration algorithm using multiple features and a posterior probability criterion is presented to solve these problems. The model representation of the object and the similarity measure are two key factors that greatly influence the performance of the tracker. Firstly, this paper propose using a local texture feature which is a generalization of the local binary pattern (LBP) descriptor, which we call the double center-symmetric local binary pattern (DCS-LBP). This feature shows great discrimination between similar regions and high robustness to noise. By analyzing DCS-LBP patterns, a simplified DCS-LBP is used to improve the object texture model called the SDCS-LBP. The SDCS-LBP is able to describe the primitive structural information of the local image such as edges and corners. Then, the SDCS-LBP and the color are combined to generate the multiple features as the target model. Secondly, a posterior probability measure is introduced to reduce the rate of matching mistakes. Three strategies of target model update are employed. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm is effective in improving tracking performance in complicated real scenarios compared with some state-of-the-art methods. Full article
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1677 KiB  
Article
Facial Expression Recognition with Fusion Features Extracted from Salient Facial Areas
by Yanpeng Liu, Yibin Li, Xin Ma and Rui Song
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 712; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17040712 - 29 Mar 2017
Cited by 85 | Viewed by 8577
Abstract
In the pattern recognition domain, deep architectures are currently widely used and they have achieved fine results. However, these deep architectures make particular demands, especially in terms of their requirement for big datasets and GPU. Aiming to gain better results without deep networks, [...] Read more.
In the pattern recognition domain, deep architectures are currently widely used and they have achieved fine results. However, these deep architectures make particular demands, especially in terms of their requirement for big datasets and GPU. Aiming to gain better results without deep networks, we propose a simplified algorithm framework using fusion features extracted from the salient areas of faces. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm has achieved a better result than some deep architectures. For extracting more effective features, this paper firstly defines the salient areas on the faces. This paper normalizes the salient areas of the same location in the faces to the same size; therefore, it can extracts more similar features from different subjects. LBP and HOG features are extracted from the salient areas, fusion features’ dimensions are reduced by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and we apply several classifiers to classify the six basic expressions at once. This paper proposes a salient areas definitude method which uses peak expressions frames compared with neutral faces. This paper also proposes and applies the idea of normalizing the salient areas to align the specific areas which express the different expressions. As a result, the salient areas found from different subjects are the same size. In addition, the gamma correction method is firstly applied on LBP features in our algorithm framework which improves our recognition rates significantly. By applying this algorithm framework, our research has gained state-of-the-art performances on CK+ database and JAFFE database. Full article
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