Combination Method for Dempster-Shafer Evidence Based on Priority Factors

Dempster-Shafer theory is an effective method for uncertain inference. It can combine evidences from different sources and therefore it has found successful application in many domains. However, the traditional method may be invalid if the conflicts between evidences are severe. Priority factors are introduced to reallocate conflict probabilities so as to improve the traditional evidence combination method. The improved method increases the probability of true propositions. Thus, the evidence combination result becomes more reasonable than traditional combination methods. An illustrative example shows the effectiveness and validity of the proposed method