Analysis of set-theoretic and stochastic models for fusion under unknown correlations

In data fusion theory, multiple estimates are combined to yield an optimal result. In this paper, the set of all possible results is investigated, when two random variables with unknown correlations are fused. As a first step, recursive processing of the set of estimates is examined. Besides set-theoretic considerations, the lack of knowledge about the unknown correlation coefficient is modeled as a stochastic quantity. Especially, a uniform model is analyzed, which provides a new optimization criterion for the covariance intersection algorithm in scalar state spaces. This approach is also generalized to multi-dimensional state spaces in an approximative, but fast and scalable way, so that consistent estimates are obtained.