Weighted fuzzy track association method based on Dempster–Shafer theory in distributed sensor networks

The uncertainty problem in sensor track to local track association is a difficult problem in distributed sensor networks, particularly when there is a big difference of sensors’ tracking performance. To solve this problem, a weighted fuzzy track association (FTA) method based on Dempster–Shafer theory is proposed. In the proposed method, five characteristics of sensor tracks from different sensors are established, and meanwhile their belief functions are defined to determine the corresponding beliefs. Considering the different effects of sensor tracks on track association, the reliabilities of sensor tracks are further presented and their magnitudes can be calculated by the combination belief function defined. Then, these reliabilities are used to reconstruct the fuzzy association degrees by the FTA method. The proposed method has an advantage that it can dynamically allocate the weight of each sensor track in association decision according to its characteristics. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by using two experiments with simulation data in manoeuvring and uniform situations. It is found to be better than those of other two track association methods in tracking accuracy.