{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,19]],"date-time":"2026-10-19T23:46:26Z","timestamp":1792453586364,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,9]],"date-time":"2017-05-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1494288000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A new DS (Dempster-Shafer) combination method is presented in this paper. As data detected by a single sensor are characterized by not only fuzziness, but also partial reliability, the development of multi-sensor information fusion becomes extremely indispensable. The DS evidence theory is an effective means of information fusion, which can not only deal with the uncertainty and inconsistency of multi-sensor data, but also handle the inevitably ambiguity and instability under noise or possible interference. However, the application of DS evidence theory has some limitations when multi-sensor data are conflicting. To address this issue, the DS evidence theory is modified in this paper. Adopting the idea of cluster analysis, we firstly introduce the Lance distance function and spectral angle cosine function to revise original evidence separately before the combination of evidence. Then, based on the modifications of original evidence, an improved conflict redistribution strategy is ulteriorly raised to fuse multi-sensor information. Finally, the numerical simulation analyses demonstrate that the improvement of the DS evidence theory available in this paper overcomes the limitations of conventional DS evidence theory, and realizes more reliable fusion with multi-sensor conflicting information compared to the existing methods.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym9050069","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,9]],"date-time":"2017-05-09T11:50:48Z","timestamp":1494330648000},"page":"69","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":56,"title":["Improvement of DS Evidence Theory for Multi-Sensor Conflicting Information"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Fang","family":"Ye","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Information and Communication Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jie","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Information and Communication Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4510-982X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yibing","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Information and Communication Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"366","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patrec.2005.08.025","article-title":"Fault diagnosis of machines based on D-S evidence theory. Part 1: D-S evidence theory and its improvement","volume":"27","author":"Fan","year":"2006","journal-title":"Pattern Recognit. Lett."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"549","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chaos.2016.07.014","article-title":"Deng entropy","volume":"91","author":"Deng","year":"2016","journal-title":"Chaos Solitons Fractals"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"1","article-title":"A threat assessment model under uncertain environment","volume":"201","author":"Deng","year":"2015","journal-title":"Math. Probl. Eng."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"777","DOI":"10.1016\/S0167-8655(01)00014-9","article-title":"Application of Dempster\u2013Shafer theory in condition monitoring applications: A case study","volume":"22","author":"Parikh","year":"2001","journal-title":"Pattern Recognit. Lett."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"772","DOI":"10.1016\/j.knosys.2010.04.014","article-title":"An interpretation of intuitionistic fuzzy sets in terms of evidence theory: Decision making aspect","volume":"23","author":"Dymova","year":"2010","journal-title":"Knowl. Based Syst."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"670","article-title":"Multi-sensor information fusion algorithm based on DS evidence theory","volume":"20","author":"Kang","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Chin. Inert. Technol."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"377","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patrec.2005.08.024","article-title":"Fault diagnosis of machines based on D-S evidence theory. Part 2: Application of the improved D-S evidence theory in gearbox fault diagnosis","volume":"27","author":"Fan","year":"2006","journal-title":"Pattern Recognit. Lett."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1016\/j.inffus.2005.07.003","article-title":"Engine fault diagnosis based on multi-sensor information fusion using Dempster\u2013Shafer evidence theory","volume":"8","author":"Basir","year":"2007","journal-title":"Inf. Fusion"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1247","DOI":"10.1109\/LGRS.2015.2390914","article-title":"Target Recognition via Information Aggregation Through Dempster\u2013Shafer\u2019s Evidence Theory","volume":"12","author":"Dong","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett."},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"271","article-title":"Autonomous navigation with uncertain reference points using the PDAF","volume":"Volume 2","year":"1991","journal-title":"Multitarget-Multisensor Tracking"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"681","article-title":"An introduction to DSm theory of plausible, paradoxist, uncertain, and imprecise reasoning for information fusion","volume":"15","author":"Smarandache","year":"2007","journal-title":"Octogon Math. Mag."},{"key":"ref_12","first-page":"235","article-title":"Book Review: A Mathematical Theory of Evidence","volume":"10","author":"Zadeh","year":"1984","journal-title":"Bull. Am. Math. Soc."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"447","DOI":"10.1109\/34.55104","article-title":"The combination of evidence in the transferable belief model","volume":"12","author":"Smets","year":"1990","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"708","article-title":"On the aggregation of prioritized belief structures","volume":"26","author":"Yager","year":"1996","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref_15","first-page":"117","article-title":"A new combination rules of evidence theory","volume":"28","author":"Sun","year":"2000","journal-title":"Chin. J. Electron."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Li, B.C., Huang, J., and Yin, H.J. (2009, January 7\u20138). Two efficient combination rules for conflicting belief functions. Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Computational Intelligence, Shanghai, China."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"857","article-title":"Combination method of conflict evidence in multi-sensor automatic target recognition","volume":"28","author":"Zhang","year":"2006","journal-title":"Syst. Eng. Electron."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"540","article-title":"A New Kind of Combination Rule of Evidence Theory","volume":"15","author":"Zhang","year":"2000","journal-title":"Control Decis."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0167-9236(99)00084-6","article-title":"Combining belief functions when evidence conflicts","volume":"29","author":"Murphy","year":"2000","journal-title":"Decis. Support Syst."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"440","DOI":"10.1109\/34.677286","article-title":"Decision rule for pattern classification by integrating interval feature values","volume":"20","author":"Horiuchi","year":"1998","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"27","article-title":"Efficient combination approach of conflict evidence","volume":"23","author":"Deng","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Infrared Millim. Waves"},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"1895","article-title":"A new combination rule of evidence","volume":"40","author":"Guo","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Shanghai Jiaotong Univ."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"255","article-title":"An improved D-S evidence combination method based on K-L distance","volume":"27","author":"Wei","year":"2011","journal-title":"Telecommun. Eng."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2874","DOI":"10.1007\/s11227-016-1681-3","article-title":"A new combination method for multisensor conflict information","volume":"72","author":"Lin","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Supercomput.,"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hardle, W., and Simar, L. (2015). Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-45171-7"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Banks, D., Mcmorris, F.R., Arabie, P., and Gaul, W. (2004, January 15\u201318). Classification, Clustering, and Data Mining Applications. Proceedings of the Meeting of the International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS), Chicago, IL, USA.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-17103-1"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.1214\/aoms\/1177698950","article-title":"Upper and lower probabilities induced by a multi-valued mapping","volume":"38","author":"Dempster","year":"1967","journal-title":"Ann. Math. Stat."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shafer, G. (1976). A Mathematical Theory of Evidence, Princeton University Press.","DOI":"10.1515\/9780691214696"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Everitt, B.S., Landau, S., Leese, M., and Stahl, D. (2011). Cluster Analysis, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.. [5th ed.].","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470977811"}],"container-title":["Symmetry"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-8994\/9\/5\/69\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:35:08Z","timestamp":1760207708000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-8994\/9\/5\/69"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,9]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,5]]}},"alternative-id":["sym9050069"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/sym9050069","relation":{},"ISSN":["2073-8994"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2073-8994","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,9]]}}}