Advances and Challenges in Multisensor Data and Information Processing

Eric Lefebvre

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781586037277
• eBook ISBN: 9781607502326
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

Information fusion resulting from multi-source processing, often called multisensor data fusion when sensors are the main sources of information, is a relatively young (less than 20 years) technology domain. It provides techniques and methods for: Integrating data from multiple sources and using the complementarity of this data to derive maximum information about the phenomenon being observed; Analyzing and deriving the meaning of these observations; Selecting the best course of action; and Controlling the actions. Various sensors have been designed to detect some specific phenomena, but not others. Data fusion applications can combine synergically information from many sensors, including data provided by satellites and contextual and encyclopedic knowledge, to provide enhanced ability to detect and recognize anomalies in the environment, compared with conventional means. Data fusion is an integral part of multisensor processing, but it can also be applied to fuse non-sensor information (geopolitical, intelligence, etc.) to provide decision support for a timely and effective situation and threat assessment. One special field of application for data fusion is satellite imagery, which can provide extensive information over a wide area of the electromagnetic spectrum using several types of sensors (Visible, Infra-Red (IR), Thermal IR, Radar, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR), Hyperspectral...). Satellite imagery provides the coverage rate needed to identify and monitor human activities from agricultural practices (land use, crop types identification...) to defence-related surveillance (land/sea target detection and classification). By acquiring remotely sensed imagery over earth regions that land sensors cannot access, valuable information can be gathered for the defence against terrorism. This books deals with the following research areas: Target recognition/classification and tracking; Sensor systems; Image processing; Remote sensing and remote control; Belief functions theory; and Situation assessment.

Table of contents

• Title page
• Preface
• Contents
• Sensor Data Fusion: Methods, Applications, Examples
• Simulation of Distributed Sensor Networks
• Joint Target Tracking and Classification via Sequential Monte Carlo Filtering
• A Survey on Assignment Techniques
• Non-Linear Techniques in Target Tracking
• Underwater Threat Source Localization: Processing Sensor Network TDOAs with a Terascale Optical Core Device
• On Quality of Information in Multi-Source Fusion Environments
• Polarimetric Features and Contextual Information Fusion for Automatic Target Detection and Recognition
• Enhancing Efficiency of Dynamic Threat Analysis for Combating and Competing Systems
• Evidence Theory for Robust Ship Identification in Airborne Maritime Surveillance Missions
• Improved Threat Evaluation Using Time of Earliest Weapon Release
• Detection of Structural Changes in a Multivariate Data Using Change-Point Models
• Unification of Fusion Theories (UFT)
• Belief Functions Theory for Multisensor Data Fusion
• Dempster-Shafer Evidence Theory Through the Years: Limitations, Practical Examples, Variants Under Conflict and a New Adaptive Combination Rule
• Decision Support and Information Fusion in the Context of Command and Control
• Fusion in European SMART Project on Space and Airborne Mined Area Reduction
• The DSmT Approach for Information Fusion and Some Open Problems
• Multitarget Tracking Applications of Dezert-Smarandache Theory
• Image Registration: A Tutorial
• Automated Registration for Fusion of Multiple Image Frames to Assist Improved Surveillance and Threat Assessment
• Data Fusion and Image Processing: A Few Application Examples
• Secondary Application Wireless Technologies to Increase Information Potential for Defence Against Terrorism
• Adaptive Image Fusion Using Wavelets: Algorithms and System Design
• Methods for Fused Image Analysis and Assessment
• Object Tracking by Particle Filtering Techniques in Video Sequences
• Wavelets, Segmentation, Pixel- and Region- Based Image Fusion
• Data Fusion and Quality Assessment of Fusion Products: Methods and Examples
• Information Management Methods in Sensor Networks
• A Novel Method for Correction of Distortions and Improvement of Information Content in Satellite-Acquired Multispectral Images
• Multisensor Data Fusion in the Processes of Weighing and Classification of the Moving Vehicles
• Sensor Performance Estimation for Multi-Camera Ambient Security Systems: A Review
• Principles and Methods of Situation Assessment
• Higher Level Fusion for Catastrophic Events
• Ontology-Driven Knowledge Integration from Heterogeneous Sources for Operational Decision Making Support
• Evaluation of Information Fusion Techniques Part 1 - System Level Assessment
• Evaluation of Information Fusion Techniques Part 2 - Metrics
• Rapid and Reliable Content Based Image Retrieval
• Subject Index
• Author Index