Author_Institution :
Comput. Sci. & Math. Div., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., TN, USA
Abstract :
In a multiple sensor system, sensor Si, i=1, 2..., N, outputs Y(i) ∈ [0,1], according to an unknown probability distribution P(Y(i)|X), in response to input X ∈ [0,1]. We choose a fuser-that combines the outputs of sensors-from a function class F={f:[0,1]N→[0,1]} by minimizing empirical error based on an i.i.d. sample. If F satisfies the isolation property, we show that the fuser performs at least as well as the best sensor in a probably approximately correct sense. Several well-known fusers, such as linear combinations, special potential functions, and certain feedforward networks, satisfy the isolation property
Keywords :
error analysis; minimisation; probability; sensor fusion; empirical error minimization; feedforward networks; i.i.d. sample; isolation property; linear combinations; multiple sensor system; probably approximately correct sense; sensor fusion; special potential functions; unknown probability distribution; Hardware; Infrared detectors; Infrared sensors; Mobile robots; Probability distribution; Robot sensing systems; Sensor arrays; Sensor fusion; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Sensor systems;