Multi-sensor terrain classification for safe spacecraft landing

A novel multi-sensor information fusion methodology for intelligent terrain classification is presented. The focus of this research is to analyze safety characteristics of the terrain using imagery data obtained by on-board sensors during spacecraft descent. This information can be used to enable the spacecraft to land safely on a planetary surface. The focus of our approach is on robust terrain analysis and information fusion in which the terrain is analyzed using multiple sensors and the extracted terrain characteristics are combined to select safe landing sites for touchdown. The novelty of this method is the incorporation of the T-Hazard Map, a multi-valued map representing the risk associated with landing on a planetary surface. The fusion method is explained in detail in this paper and computer simulation results are presented to validate the approach.     

Fault Detection in Dynamic Systems via Decision Fusion

Due to the growing demands for system reliability and availability of large amounts of data, efficient fault detection techniques for dynamic systems are desired. In this paper, we consider fault detection in dynamic systems monitored by multiple sensors. Normal and faulty behaviors can be modeled as two hypotheses. Due to communication constraints, it is assumed that sensors can only send binary data to the fusion center. Under the assumption of independent and identically distributed (1ID) observations, we propose a distributed fault detection algorithm, including local detector design and decision fusion rule design, based on state estimation via particle filtering. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.     

Performance evaluation for MAP state estimate fusion

This paper presents a quantitative performance evaluation method for the maximum a posteriori (MAP) state estimate fusion algorithm. Under ideal conditions where data association is assumed to be perfect, it has been shown that the MAP or best linear unbiased estimate (BLUE) fusion formula provides the best linear minimum mean squared estimate (LMMSE) given local estimates under the linear Gaussian assumption for a static system. However, for a dynamic system where fusion is recursively performed by the fusion center on local estimates generated from local measurements, it is not obvious how the MAP algorithm will perform. In the past, several performance evaluation methods have been proposed for various fusion algorithms, including simple convex combination, cross-covariance combination, information matrix, and MAP fusion. However, not much has been done to quantify the steady state behavior of these fusion methods for a dynamic system. The goal of this work is to present analytical fusion performance results for MAP state estimate fusion without extensive Monte Carlo simulations, using an approach developed for steady state performance evaluation for track fusion. Two different communication strategies are considered: fusion with and without feedback to the sensors. Analytic curves for the steady state performance of the fusion algorithm for various communication patterns are presented under different operating conditions.     

液体火箭发动机泄漏故障诊断的信息融合技术

从故障诊断角度出发,分析了故障诊断和信息融合技术关系。综合现在进行液体火箭发动机检漏的相关技术,为了弥补泄漏故障诊断信息不足等问题,提出了采用点式和红外传感器相结合的方法来探测泄漏故障引起的各种现象,概述了该领域的相关技术和实现方法,建立了基于信息融合的泄漏故障检测与诊断系统,有利于提高泄漏故障的有效性和可信度。      

Performance evaluation of track fusion with information matrixfilter

In a multisensor environment, each sensor detects multiple targets and creates corresponding tracks. Fusion of tracks from these, possibly dissimilar, sensors yields more accurate kinematic and attribute information regarding the target. Two methodologies have been employed for such purpose, which are: measurement fusion and state vector fusion. It is well known that the measurement fusion approach is optimal but computationally inefficient and the state vector fusion algorithms are more efficient but suboptimal, in general. This is so because the state vector estimates to be fused obtained from two sensors, are not conditionally independent in general due to the common process noise from the target being tracked. It is to be noted that there are three approaches to state vector fusion, which are: weighted covariance, information matrix, and pseudomeasurement. This research is restricted solely to performance evaluation of the information matrix form of state vector fusion. Closed-form analytical solution of steady state fused covariance has been derived as a measure of performance using this approach. Note that the results are derived under the assumptions that the two sensors are synchronized and no misassociation or merged measurement is considered in the study. Results are compared with those using Monte Carlo simulation, which was used in the past to predict fusion system performance by various authors. These results provide additional insight into the mechanism of track fusion and greatly simplify evaluation of fusion performance. In addition, availability of such a solution facilitates the trade-off studies for designing fusion systems under various operating conditions     

Architectures and algorithms for track association and fusion

Target tracking using multiple sensors can provide better performance than using a single sensor. One approach to multiple target tracking with multiple sensors is to first perform single sensor tracking and then fuse the tracks from the different sensors. Two processing architectures for track fusion are presented: sensor to sensor track fusion, and sensor to system track fusion. Technical issues related to the statistical correlation between track estimation errors are discussed. Approaches for associating the tracks and combining the track state estimates of associated tracks that account for this correlation are described and compared by both theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations     

基于灰色理论的一种数据融合方法

在灰色关联分析的基础上,对斜关联度进行了修正,引出了点、斜修正关联度分析的概念.通过对影响目标属性识别的各种因素进行分析,结合战术思想利用灰色点、斜修正关联度分析及多目标优化方法建立了数据融合模型,提出了一种基于灰色理论的多传感器数据融合方法.计算多传感器测量数据的灰色关联矩阵,进行灰色优势分析,然后进行数据融合.此方法考虑了各传感器测量数据的精确度,而且删除掉了测量比较差或测量不到的数据.仿真结果表明,应用该方法可进一步提高多传感器的测量精度和可靠性,适用于多传感器的数据融合.     

Optimal Decision Fusion in Multiple Sensor Systems

The problem of optimal data fusion in the sense of the Neyman-pearson (N-P) test in a centralized fusion center is considered. The fusion center receives data from various distributed sensors. Each sensor implements a N-P test individually and independently of the other sensors. Due to limitations in channel capacity, the sensors transmit their decision instead of raw data. In addition to their decisions, the sensors may transmit one or more bits of quality information. The optimal, in the N-P sense, decision scheme at the fusion center is derived and it is seen that an improvement in the performance of the system beyond that of the most reliable sensor is feasible, even without quality information, for a system of three or more sensors. If quality information bits are also available at the fusion center, the performance of the distributed decision scheme is comparable to that of the centralized N-P test. Several examples are provided and an algorithm for adjusting the threshold level at the fusion center is provided.     

Comparison of two measurement fusion methods forKalman-filter-based multisensor data fusion

Currently there exist two commonly used measurement fusion methods for Kalman-filter-based multisensor data fusion. The first (Method I) simply merges the multisensor data through the observation vector of the Kalman filter, whereas the second (Method II) combines the multisensor data based on a minimum-mean-square-error criterion. This paper, based on an analysis of the fused state estimate covariances of the two measurement fusion methods, shows that the two measurement fusion methods are functionally equivalent if the sensors used for data fusion, with different and independent noise characteristics, have identical measurement matrices. Also presented are simulation results on state estimation using the two measurement fusion methods, followed by the analysis of the computational advantages of each method     

OS-CFAR thresholding in decentralized radar systems

In a decentralized detection scheme, several sensors perform a binary (hard) decision and send the resulting data to a fusion center for the final decision. If each local decision has a constant false alarm rate (CFAR), the final decision is ensured to be CFAR. We consider the case that each local decision is a threshold decision, and the threshold is proportional, through a suitable multiplier, to a linear combination of order statistics (OS) from a reference set (a generalization of the concept of OS thresholding). We address the following problem: given the fusion rule and the relevant system parameters, select each threshold multiplier and the coefficients of each linear combination so as to maximize the overall probability of detection for constrained probability of false alarm. By a Lagrangian maximization approach, we obtain a general solution to this problem and closed-form solutions for the AND and OR fusion logics. A performance assessment is carried on, showing a global superiority of the OR fusion rule in terms of detection probability (for operating conditions matching the design assumptions) and of robustness (when these do not match). We also investigate the effect of the hard quantization performed at the local sensors, by comparing the said performance to those achievable by the same fusion rule in the limiting case of no quantization     

Efficient multisensor fusion using multidimensional dataassociation

We present the development of a multisensor fusion algorithm using multidimensional data association for multitarget tracking. The work is motivated by a large scale surveillance problem, where observations from multiple asynchronous sensors with time-varying sampling intervals (electronically scanned array (ESA) radars) are used for centralized fusion. The combination of multisensor fusion with multidimensional assignment is done so as to maximize the “time-depth” in addition to “sensor-width” for the number S of lists handled by the assignment algorithm. The standard procedure, which associates measurements from the most recently arrived S-1 frames to established tracks, can have, in the case of S sensors, a time-depth of zero. A new technique, which guarantees maximum effectiveness for an S-dimensional data association (S⩾3), i.e., maximum time-depth (S-1) for each sensor without sacrificing the fusion across sensors, is presented. Using a sliding window technique (of length S), the estimates are updated after each frame of measurements. The algorithm provides a systematic approach to automatic track formation, maintenance, and termination for multitarget tracking using multisensor fusion with multidimensional assignment for data association. Estimation results are presented for simulated data for a large scale air-to-ground target tracking problem     

On optimal track-to-track fusion

Track-to-track fusion is an important part in multisensor fusion. Much research has been done in this area. Chong et al. (1979, 1986, 1990) among others, presented an optimal fusion formula under an arbitrary communication pattern. This formula is optimal when the underlying systems are deterministic, i.e., the process noise is zero, or when full-rate communication (two sensors exchange information each time they receive new measurements) is employed. However, in practice, the process noise is not negligible due to target maneuvering and sensors typically communicate infrequently to save communication bandwidth. In such situations, the measurements from two sensors are not conditionally (given the previous target state) independent due to the common process noise from the underlying system, and the fusion formula becomes an approximate one. This dependence phenomena was also observed by Bar-Shalom (1981) where a formula was derived to compute the cross-covariance of two track estimates obtained by different sensors. Based on this results a fusion formula was subsequently derived (1986) to combine the local estimates which took into account the dependency between the two estimates. Unfortunately, the Bayesian derivation made an assumption that is not met. This work points out the implicit approximation made and shows that the result turns out to be optimal only in the ML (maximum likelihood) sense. A performance evaluation technique is then proposed to study the performance of various track-to-track fusion techniques. The results provide performance bounds of different techniques under various operating conditions which can be used in designing a fusion system.     

A Smart Low-Power Meteorological System

A new low-power instrument to measure meteorological parameters has been developed. The instrument is based on an intelligent data cruncher concept: Fast sensor data rates are stored and process to yield a variety of answers for each parameter, at slower data rates, as appropriate. Special methods are used to achieve these results with an average current drain of under one mA, including sensors. Sampling rates and processing algorithms are designed to correct for swaying ocean-deployed buoys. A modular approach to design allows many types of sensors to be accommodated and permits data dissemination to a variety of destinations; data is available for real-time transmission or for internal archiving. The Weather Station's high-capacity internal data storage system, coupled with its fast data acquisition rates, enable the instrument to be used for air turbulence measurements.     

一种基于相邻模块化加权D-S的融合诊断方法

常规D-S (Dempster-Shafter)决策融合方法由于其自身理论不足,不能很好直接处理决策结果偏差大、冲突大的传感器融合问题,因而对于信息高冲突情况下的转子微弱故障融合诊断存在着失效问题。针对该类问题与不足,借鉴复杂网络的舆论传播、社会学习理论及多智能体一致性决策的相关概念与思路,从避免决策结果冲突大的传感器直接进行融合的角度进行改进,提出相邻模块化加权D-S融合方法。该方法首先根据初步结果进行相邻节点与模块划分,只有决策距离在相邻界限值范围内的相邻模块节点才能进行决策融合;对于同一模块内相邻节点,根据各节点决策权重及初步决策结果采用加权D-S融合方法进行决策融合;针对融合结果再进行相邻节点模块划分与融合,依此步骤进行循环划分与融合,直到所有模块与节点均不相邻;最后采用专家权威决策方法确定权重和最大的模块融合结果作为最终的传感器网络一致性决策结果。通过多传感器网络的转子故障模拟实验对所提方法进行验证,应用结果表明:所提方法可以较好解决少数传感器诊断正确、而多数诊断错误的信息高冲突条件下的局部微弱故障融合诊断问题。     

风洞模型-支撑系统涡激振动测量与分析

以0.55m×0.4m低湍流航空声学风洞某模型及其支撑系统为研究对象,采用基于加速度传感器直接测量支撑系统和热线间接测量模型尾流相结合的方法,测量并分析了风洞模型-支撑系统的涡激振动模态,给出了测量方案和数据处理方法。采用基于加速度传感器的功率谱分析方法,获得了模型-支撑系统的三阶振动频率分别为31.1、120.9和221.4Hz;采用基于加速度传感器的频域滤波和频域积分方法,提高了有效信号的信噪比,获得了模型-支撑系统振动的振型和振动节点位置;采用热线测量模型尾流分离涡脱落频率的方法,获得了模型一阶和二阶振动的尾流涡激频率分别为31.1和124.1Hz,并从测量尾流速度脉动量获得了模型振幅变化和抖振边界信息。实验结果表明,采用热线测量模型尾流从而分析模型振动的方法,有利于小尺度的模型振动测量,而且相对于加速度传感器装于模型表面的直接测量方法而言,对试验模型的绕流流场干扰较小,为测量风洞试验模型的涡激振动模态提供了一种方法。     

A new system identification technique for harmonic decomposition

An extended and unifying system identification technique is presented for a class of systems that include all main signal models that arise in the harmonic decomposition problem. This technique unifies and extends the previously developed system identification techniques which are improvements on the Pisarenko harmonic decomposition (or, its spatial dual, MUSIC) as they arise in arrays of sensors. The advantages of the technique and some of its specializations include having no assumptions of stationarity on the stochastic processes involved. Another contribution of this technique is that it can also be used without any resort to probability theoretic concepts, thus bypassing the approximation of autocorrelations via time averages, yielding the system parameters exactly. This technique can be utilized to determine the dominant modes of vibrations of flexible structures as well. An analogy is established between arrays of sensors for target signal returns and those that can be used for vibrations in flexible structures. This enables the results developed for each one of these problems to be applied to the other     

一种分布式异步航迹融合算法

在多被动传感器目标跟踪中,融合中心处理的信息一般是同步的,然而实际情况并非如此。另外,一些被动传感器只能得到目标的方位信息,无法单独形成有效航迹,这就需要将各传感器数据同步到相同时刻,然后应用同步融合算法。针对被动传感器探测系统,采用传感器到传感器融合和系统到传感器融合的分布式融合结构,并对各局部传感器引入全局反馈,对相关信息采用协方差交叉算法进行处理,完成被动传感器异步数据的融合,仿真结果表明,该算法具有较好的融合效果。     

基于ECEF的广义最小二乘误差配准技术

 雷达组网数据处理首先要进行误差配准,来准确地估计和消除系统误差。传统的误差配准技术多基于球极投影,当雷达之间距离较远时,给配准结果引入一定的误差。基于地球中心坐标系(ECEF),提出了一种广义最小二乘的ECEF-GLS误差配准技术,较好地解决了远距离误差配准问题,误差分析表明,如果忽略模型线性化引入的误差,配准结果达到了CRLB下限。最后,使用仿真数据验证了算法的性能,并和Zhou提出的基于ECEF坐标系的最小二乘ECEF-LS误差配准算法进行了比较。     

Performance limits of track-to-track fusion versus centralized estimation: theory and application [sensor fusion]

Track-to-track fusion is an important part in distributed multisensor-multitarget tracking. The centralized and distributed tracking configurations were studied in (H.Chen et al., Proc. of SPIE Conf. on Signal and Data Processing of Small Targets, vol. 4048, 2000) using simulated air-to-air scenarios, and in (K.C. Chang, et al, IEEE Transact. on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 1271-1276, 1997) with analytical results based on /spl alpha/-/spl beta/ filters. The current work generalizes the results in the latter to the cases with more than 2 sensors. As the number of sensors increases, the performance of the distributed tracker is shown to degrade compared with the centralized estimation even when the optimal track-to-track fusion is used. An approximate track-to-track fusion is presented and compared with the optimal track-to-track fusion with performance curves for various numbers of sensors. These performance curves can be used in designing a fusion system where certain trade-offs need to be considered. Finally, these results are compared with simulation results for a realistic air-to-air encounter scenario.     

基于DSmT的航空发动机早期振动故障融合诊断方法

提出在航空发动机多个部位安装多个振动传感器组成传感器网络.采用多传感器信息融合技术进行早期振动故障的诊断方法,并引入Dezert-Smarandache理论(DSmT)来处理由早期微弱故障本身所导致的各个传感器信息相互冲突的问题.在构建的早期微弱故障诊断系统框架中,采用基于本征模态函数(IMF)的信息熵特征提取方法提取各路振动数据的特征,采用反向传播(BP)神经网络完成对故障属性的判断并生成各种故障模式的基本置信分配,最后根据DSmT融合规则得到最终的诊断结果.算例表明采用该方法可以有效地解决早期微弱故障条件下的高冲突信息融合问题,故障诊断结果准确可靠.