Online Target Localization Using Adaptive Belief Propagation in the HMM Framework

Abstract

This paper considers a human-autonomy collaborative sensor data fusion for dynamic target localization in a Bayesian framework. To compensate for the shortcomings of an autonomous tracking system, we propose to collect spatial sensing information from human operators who visually monitor the target and can provide target localization information in the form of free sketches encircling the area where the target is located. Our focus in this paper is to construct an adaptive probabilistic model for human-provided inputs where the adaption terms capture the level of reliability of the human inputs. The next contribution of this paper is a novel joint Bayesian learning method to fuse human and autonomous sensor inputs in a manner that the dynamic changes in human detection reliability are also captured and accounted for. A unique aspect of this Bayesian modeling framework is its analytical closed-form update equations, endowing our method with significant computational efficiency. Simulations demonstrate our results.