Evaluation of Bayesian and Dempster-Shafer approaches to fusion of video surveillance information

This paper presents the application of fusion methods to a visual surveillance scenario. The range of relevant features for re-identifying vehicles is discussed, along with the methods for fusing probabilistic estimates derived from these estimates. In particular, two statistical parametric fusion methods are considered: Bayesian Networks and the Dempster Shafer approach. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a metric to allow direct comparison of the benefits of the two methods. This is achieved by generalising the Kelly betting strategy to accommodate a variable total stake for each sample, subject to a fixed expected (mean) stake. This metric provides a method to quantify the extra information provided by the Dempster-Shafer method, in comparison to a Bayesian Fusion approach.