Characterization of mine detection sensors in terms of belief functions and their fusion, first results

In this paper, characterization of mine detection sensors in terms of belief functions and their fusion are presented. The need for fusion of mine detection sensors is discussed, and reasons for choosing Dempster-Shafer framework are pointed out, taking into account specificity and sensitivity of the problem. This work is done in the scope of the HUDEM project, where three promising and complementary sensors are under analysis. These sensors are presented, and detail analysis is performed in case of fusing the data from them. A way for including in the model influence of various factors on sensors and their results is discussed as well and will be further analyzed in the future. The application of the approach proposed in this paper is illustrated on the frequent case of detecting metallic objects, but the possibility for modifying it to some other situations exists.