Comparison of belief functions and voting method for fusion of mine detection sensors

In this paper, two methods for fusion of mine detection sensors are presented, based on belief functions and on voting procedures, respectively. Their application is illustrated and compared on a real multisensor data set collected at the TNO test facilities under the HOM-2000 project. This set contains data acquired by metal detector, infrared camera and ground penetrating radar. The data acquisition and preprocessing are briefly described. For some typical cases presented in this data set, the characteristics extracted and used by both methods are discussed, as well as the answers given by each method and possible causes of potential differences in results. Also, it is shown how the different voting schemes compare to belief functions modeling in various situations, based on the knowledge that is put into the belief functions. Since the roots of the two methods are different, i.e. belief functions involve expert knowledge while voting is a simple approach, the explanations involve these differences. Problems that arise when comparing and evaluating different methods are also addressed. Finally, it is shown that both of the methods have their advantages and drawbacks, depending on the measurement and operational conditions. This paper is a result of a joint work at three European institutions towards a common goal: humanitarian demining.