Multi-sensor data fusion technology in an important tool in building decision-making applications. Modified Dempster–Shafer (DS) evidence theory can handle conflicting sensor inputs and can be applied without any prior information. As a result, DS-based information fusion is very popular in decision-making applications, but original DS theory produces counterintuitive results when combining highly conflicting evidences from multiple sensors. An effective algorithm offering fusion of highly conflicting information in spatial domain is not widely reported in the literature. In this paper, a successful fusion algorithm is proposed which addresses these limitations of the original Dempster–Shafer (DS) framework. A novel entropy function is proposed based on Shannon entropy, which is better at capturing uncertainties compared to Shannon and Deng entropy. An 8-step algorithm has been developed which can eliminate the inherent paradoxes of classical DS theory. Multiple examples are presented to show that the proposed method is effective in handling conflicting information in spatial domain. Simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm has competitive convergence rate and accuracy compared to other methods presented in the literature.

Accuracy in detecting a moving object is critical to autonomous driving or advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). By including the object classification from multiple sensor detections, the model of the object or environment can be identified more accurately. The critical parameters involved in improving the accuracy are the size and the speed of the moving object. All sensor data are to be used in defining a composite object representation so that it could be used for the class information in the core object’s description. This composite data can then be used by a deep learning network for complete perception fusion in order to solve the detection and tracking of moving objects problem. Camera image data from subsequent frames along the time axis in conjunction with the speed and size of the object will further contribute in developing better recognition algorithms. In this paper, we present preliminary results using only camera images for detecting various objects using deep learning network, as a first step toward multi-sensor fusion algorithm development. The simulation experiments based on camera images show encouraging results where the proposed deep learning network based detection algorithm was able to detect various objects with certain degree of confidence. A laboratory experimental setup is being commissioned where three different types of sensors, a digital camera with 8 megapixel resolution, a LIDAR with 40m range, and ultrasonic distance transducer sensors will be used for multi-sensor fusion to identify the object in real-time.

To apply data fusion in time-domain based on Dempster–Shafer (DS) combination rule, an 8-step algorithm with novel entropy function is proposed. The 8-step algorithm is applied to time-domain to achieve the sequential combination of time-domain data. Simulation results showed that this method is successful in capturing the changes (dynamic behavior) in time-domain object classification. This method also showed better anti-disturbing ability and transition property compared to other methods available in the literature. As an example, a convolution neural network (CNN) is trained to classify three different types of weeds. Precision and recall from confusion matrix of the CNN are used to update basic probability assignment (BPA) which captures the classification uncertainty. Real data of classified weeds from a single sensor is used test time-domain data fusion. The proposed method is successful in filtering noise (reduce sudden changes—smoother curves) and fusing conflicting information from the video feed. Performance of the algorithm can be adjusted between robustness and fast-response using a tuning parameter which is number of time-steps( $t_s$ ).

Crop row detection is the first step towards automatic navigation of agricultural robots and a critical step for precision agriculture. Based on crop and weed growth, four scenarios could arise during crop row detection. First, crop rows are clearly visible and no weed growth in between rows. Second, crop rows are clearly visible and low weed growth in between rows. Third, crop