Sensor fusion

Citation

Rigelsford, J. (2002), "Sensor fusion", Sensor Review, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2002.08722dad.014

Sensor fusion

Sensor fusion

Applicant: Accurate Automation Corporation, USAPatent number: US5,850,625Publication date: 15 December 1998Title: Sensor fusion apparatus and methodKeywords: Sensor fusion, Patents

This patent presents an apparatus and method for fusing signals from two or more sensors that observe single or multiple targets. The invention allows improved confidence of target existence and position at a given time and is capable of determining whether closely spaced detections are the same target or distinct targets that are relatively close to each other.

The apparatus includes two or more sensors, a gain control unit and fusion units. It may also include an integration unit. The integration unit performs temporal and weighted spatial integration of the sensor signals to generate respective sets of integrated signals supplied to the gain control and fusion units. The gain control unit uses a preprogrammed function to map the integrated signals to an output signal that is scaled to generate a gain signal supplied to the fusion unit. The fusion unit uses a preprogrammed function to map its received integrated signals and the gain signal to a fused signal that is the output of the invented apparatus. The weighted spatial integration increases the fused signal's sensitivity to near detections and suppresses response to detections relatively distant in space and time.