Non-Uniform Fusion Tree Generation in a Dynamic Multi-Sensor System

This paper addresses the proposal that the number of processed air tracks of a two-tier fusion process can be increased by applying a balanced fusion tree which can balance tracks across local fusion nodes. Every fusion cycle, a fusion process combines duplicate tracks from multiple radars and creates a single integrated air picture (SIAP). The two-tier fusion process divides the fusion process into local and global. The results of the local fusion process, executed at local fusion nodes, are used in the global fusion process. This hierarchical structure can be modeled as a fusion tree: each radar, local fusion node, and the central server is a leaf, internode, and the root, respectively. This paper presents a non-uniform fusion tree generation (NU-FTG) algorithm based on clustering approach. In the NU-FTG, radars with higher scores get more chances to become local fusion nodes. The score of a radar is in proportion to the number of tracks of the radar and its neighbors. All radars execute the NU-FTG independently with the information of their neighbors. Any prior information, such as the appropriate number of local fusion nodes, predefined tree structure, or position of radars, is not required. The NU-FTG is evaluated in the OPNET (Optimized Network Engineering Tool), network simulator. Simulation results show that the NU-FTG performs better than existing clustering methods.