Information Fusion in Signal and Image Processing: Major Probabilistic and Non-Probabilistic Numerical Approaches

Chapter 2

Fusion in Signal Processing

2.1. Introduction

There has been a significant evolution in sensors available today in terms of performance and quality as well as the associated signal processing. This constant progress, from the perspective of both hardware and software, provides us with increasingly dense and complex elements of information, that differ in nature and reliability, for example, the multi-mode radar, capable of performing several tasks such as detecting, tracking or identifying targets.

Whether in the field of military applications, with the improved performances of portable devices, where speed, range, maneuverability, stealth, signal jamming and group movements have a direct impact on the surveillance system's efficiency, or in other fields of signal processing, there are major demands: a surveillance or diagnosis system must have a reactivity close to real-time, without loss of performance, and must offer as quickly as possible a situation assessment, with a reliability and an accuracy known to the operator. The use of a single type of sensor quickly became obsolete and the multi-sensor approach, associated with information fusion, progressively became prevalent for the creation of a comprehensive system to assist decision making.

This multi-sensor approach introduced new concepts, many of them inherent to how the systems functioned, such as control, decision making and communications management, in order to co-ordinate the various components and to ensure ...