Estimation of Target Behavior Tendencies using DSmT

This chapter presents an approach for target behavior tendency estimation (Receding, Approaching). It is developed on the principles of DezertSmarandache theory (DSmT) of plausible and paradoxical reasoning applied to conventional sonar amplitude measurements, which serve as an evidence for corresponding decision-making procedures. In some real world situations it is difficult to finalize these procedures, because of discrepancies in measurements interpretation. In these cases the decision-making process leads to conflicts, which cannot be resolved using the well-known methods. The aim of the performed study is to present and to approve the ability of DSmT to finalize successfully the decision-making process and to assure awareness about the tendencies of target behavior in case of discrepancies in measurements interpretation. An example is provided to illustrate the benefit of the proposed approach application in comparison of fuzzy logic approach, and its ability to improve the overall tracking performance. This chapter is based on a paper [7] presented during the International Conference on Information Fusion, Fusion 2003, Cairns, Australia, in July 2003 and is reproduced here with permission of the International Society of Information Fusion. This work has been partially supported by MONT grants I-1205/02, I-1202/02 and by Center of Excellence BIS21 grant ICA1-2000-70016