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Scientific Journal of Information Engineering
June 2014, Volume 4, Issue 3, PP.99-103
Design of Multi-Sensor Measuring Device
Based on Data Fusion
Xin Li
School of Information Engineering, Chongqing Institute of Engineering, Chongqing 400037, China
Email: 94266636@qq.com
Abstract
A new method of multi-sensor measurement in sections based on Kalman filter and correlation analysis is proposed, aiming at the
problems of poor measurement precision, poor reliability, without estimating the status between measurement points for single
sensor. It absorbs well the advantages both the data fusion based on Kalman recursive filter and correlation analysis, with which
the precision and reliability are enhanced and the status between the points can be estimated also. It avoids the limitation of
Kalman filter on math model and noise statistics characteristic at the same time. A character parameters measurement device of a
dynamic load track was developed in succession. The data process results of the device demonstrated that the method is effective
and the effect is significant.
Keywords: Sectional Measurement; Multi-Sensor; Kalman Filter; Correlation Analysis
1 INTRODUCTION
The measurement limitations did not meet some needs for single sensor, e.g. accuracy, reliability, information
preservation, sensor fault in large measuring range and judgment of anomalies information between measured points.
Multi-sensor measurement is used in sections for the same measured physical quantity, and using data fusion method
to estimate measured state, the measurement are more precise and reliable than single sensor. Kalman filter is a linear
minimum variance unbiased estimation, which has greatly estimating ability for non-stationary signal. Therefore, the
method is proposed to seek measured parameters of mean square estimation error minimum value based on Kalman
recursive filter multi-sensor data fusion, which can acquire more precise and reliable measure parameters. Correlation
function can analyse fused data, e.g. self-correlation information of measured point and cross-correlation information
of between adjacent measured points.
2 MULTI-SENSOR MEASUREMENT IN SECTIONS BASED ON KALMAN FILTER AND
CORRELATION ANALYSIS

The structure of Multi-sensor measurement in sections based on Kalman filter and correlation analysis is shown in
Fig.1. It is composed of signal pre-process module, data fusion module based on Kalman filter, correlation analysis
module and wireless transmit-receive module. Measure devices are preset on measured subsection areas, and a
number of sensors have been placed on the measured points. Sensors signals are fused based on Kalman recursive
filter after pre-process. Using self-correlation information of measured points and cross-correlation information of
FIG.1:DATA PROCESSING AND TRANSMISSION OF MEASURED
POINTS
fused data
cross-correlation
n
s
e
n
s
o
r
s

fused data
signal
pre-process
module
data
fusion
based on
Kalman
filter
module
correlation
analysis
wireless
transmit-
receive
module
adjacent
measure
devices
1
auto-correlation


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adjacent measurements that are transmitted wirelessly, it can analyze the information of measured points and
unscanned areas, and estimate relative position of anomalies for unscanned areas.
3 MULTI-SENSOR DATA FUSION AND CORRELATION ANALYSIS
3.1 Multi-Sensor Data Fusion Based on Kalman Filter
The data are decentralized treatment firstly, and proceeded global fusion to seek measure parameters of mean square
estimation error minimum value based on Kalman recursive filter multi-sensor data fusion. Local filter information
isolates well sensor fault, and acquires local optimal estimation which is synthesized by fusion algorithm in the main
filter, and acquires global estimation finally
[1-3]
.
State equations and observation equation of n sensors dynamic system is assumed:
x(t+1)=x(t)+w(t), (1)
y (t)=Hx(t)+ (t),
in the equations, characteristics of state vector x (t) are observed by n sensors during sampling time t, x (t)R
n
, state
observation value y (t)R
n
, system noise w (t)R
m
, observation noise (t) R
n
; observing matrix H, state
transition matrix and system matrix are respectively known nn, nn and nm matrices.
Zero-mean-value matrix w (t) and covariance matrix (t) are set as non-correlation Gaussian sequence of Q and R.
Satisfiable equations :
E[w(t)]=0, E[w(t)w
T
(t)]=Q(t); (2)
E[(t)]=0, E[(t)
T
(t)]=R(t); (3)
in the equations, E is expectation.
Initial state x (0) is set as non-correlation random variable with w (t) and (t). Satisfiable equations:
E[x(0)]=
0
, E[(x(0)-
0
) (x(0)-
0
)
T
]=P
0
. (4)
State x (t) can be acquired via using Kalman recursive filter based on global information optimization fused
estimation
( )
t x and estimating error covariance matrix P (t). K (t) is set as gain matrix of Kalman filter. Kalman
recursive filter is
( 1 1) ( 1) ( 1) ( )[ ( 1) ] t t t t t t t + + = + + + + x K y x K H ,

( )
1
T T
1 ( ) ( 1 ) ( ) t t t t t t

( + = + +

K P H HP H R
,
( ) ( ) ( )
T T
1 t t t t t + = + P P Q
, (5)
( 1 1) [ ( 1) ] ( 1 )
n
t t t t t + + = + + P I K H P ,
(0 0)
0
= x ,
0
(0 0) = P P
.
Performance index of weighting fusion estimation
[4]
is
T
0 0
min [( )( ) ] J E = x x x x , (6)
according to minimizing diagonal matrix. L xR
n
unbiased estimation is
i
x , and homologous covariance matrix is
T
ij i j
E [ ] = ( )( ) P x x x x , i, j=1,L, (7)
and so fusion estimation
0
x of x is:
j1
L
j2
0 j
1
jn
0

0
j
a
a
a
=
(
(
(
=
(
(
(

x x
(8)
in the equation, optimum weighted coefficient row vector element
( )
( )
1
T ii
ji 1
T ii
, 1 n, 1 L
e
a i j
e e

= = =
P
P
,
| |
T
1 1 1 e = ,
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
ii ii
11 1L
ii
ii ii
L1 LL
P P
P P
(
(
=
(
(

P
there into,
(ii)
kj
P is
kj
P (i, i) diagonal element. Here components of

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minimum square sum of fusion error are
( )
1
1
T ii
0
i 1
tr , 1 , n
n
e e i

=
(
= =

P P . (9)
3.2 Correlation Analysis
Consequence of Multi-sensor data fusion is analyzed the similarity degree after elapsed time according to
correlation function, and the information of measured points and adjacent measured points are acquired. With two
signals of measured sensors x
i
(t) and x
k
(t+), cross-correlation function R
xi,xk
() is defined:
( ) ( ) ( )
xi,xk i k
0
1
lim
T
T
R x t x t dt
T
t t

= +
}
(10)
( ) | | ( ) | | { }
xk xi
0
xk k xi i
xk xi
1
lim
o o
t

t
}
+ -
=

T
dt t x t x
T

( ) ( )
( )
i k xi xk
0
xi xk
xi,xk xi xk
xi xk
1
lim
T
x t x t dt
T
R
t
t
o o
t
o o

- +
=

=
}

in the formula,
xi
and
xk
are mathematical expectation of x
i
(t) and x
k
(t),
xi
and
xk
are standard deviation of x
i
(t)
and x
k
(t).

xi, xk
signifies linear correlation extent of two signals,
xi,xk
1. If
xi, xk
=1, explain that two variables x
i
and x
k

ideal linear correlation.
xi, xk
=0 expresses x
i
and x
k
is non-correlation.
In the formula (10), x
k
(t+) is replaced to get self-correlation function R
xi
() by x
i
(t+). Similarly, self-correlation
coefficient
xi
can be got. x
i
(t) makes a self-correlation analysis with standard function x
i0
(t) of x
i
(t) in practical
application.
When the self-correlation coefficient of one measured signal is smaller than threshold value, it shows that this
measured point has fault. When the cross-correlation coefficient of two measured signals is smaller than threshold
value according to time difference , it could inference relative position of fault point of non-measured range.
4 REALIZATION OF MULTI-SENSOR MEASUREMENT IN SECTIONS
The design of the dynamic load measure system, has mainly focused on multi-sensor data fusion and correlation
analysis, and has manufactured a dynamic load measure board which can send wireless data, to verify the accuracy
and validity of this measure method.

FIG.2 CHARACTERISTIC PARAMETERS OF THE DYNAMIC LOAD TRACK MEASURE DEVICE
data collection,
fusion and
correlation
analysis
STM32F103RB
nRF24E1 wireless
transmit-receive module
wireless
transmit-
receive
module
h
o
s
t

c
o
m
p
u
t
e
r

Characteristic of
Track Analysis
Central Processor Module
measuring device for characteristic
parameter of dynamic loading
wireless
transmit-
receive
module
sensors and signal
pre-process module
filtering
and
amplifying
circuit
DS18B20 temperature
sensors
constantan
wire strain
sensors

ADXL202
acceleration
sensors

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Track is widely used in manufacturing, transportation, and other industries. The basic characteristics measurement of
the dynamic load track could provide important referenced parameters for the safety estimation. Measure board is
composed of sensors and signal pre-process module, central processor module and wireless transmit-receive module,
as shown in Fig.2. The main hardware design is using STM32F103RB
[5-6]
chip which is based on the Cortex-M3
core as the core microprocessor which collect and pre-process parameters, and then use the wireless transmission
module nRF24E1 to send pre-processed and original data to the PC. Software design is mainly the naturalization of
the C/OS-II real-time operating system
[7]
on STM32F103RB, which contains data collection and process, wireless
transceiver module.
In the experiment, simply-supported beam JZ-81A is adopted to simulate the track, loading capacity 4 kg. A loaded
car is mounted on the simply-supported beam and runs regularly, which is installed a micro-motor with eccentric
block to supply vibration signals. Because they are important measured points on the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the track,
the measure devices are preseted there to measure subsection region. Every measured point is placed 4 strain sensors,
4 acceleration sensors and 4 temperature sensors for multi-sensor measurement fusion.
Comparing the received data and the theoretical value, the results showed that the dynamic load measure system
works well and its acquired data is quite approaching to the theoretical value, as shown in Fig.3-a, b, c, d, e, f. They
are different among per group measure data according to the Fig.3-a, c, f shown, using data fusion method, which
acquire the fusion value to reflect measured point strain. In the Fig.3-b, d, e shown, fusion and theoretical value are
very approximate, maximum error <3.7%.

(a) MEASURE OF STRAIN ON 1/4 OF THE TRACK (b) FUSION OF STRAIN ON 1/4 OF THE TRACK

(c) MEASURE OF STRAIN ON 1/2 OF THE TRACK (d) FUSION OF STRAIN ON 1/2 OF THE TRACK

(e) MEASURE OF STRAIN ON 3/4 OF THE TRACK (f) FUSION OF STRAIN ON 3/4 OF THE TRACK
FIG..3 MEASURE VALUE AND FUSION VALUE OF STRAIN ON 1/4, 1/2 AND 3/4 OF THE TRACK

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5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, multi-point measurement of subsection parameters for dynamic load system is used, which is, a number
of sensors have been placed on the measured points, and using Kalman filter recursive data fusion method to search
for the minimum mean square estimation error of the measured parameters. According to the track parameters after
the fusion, use the self-correlation and cross-correlation to analysis the change of the parameter and the anomalies of
the tracks unscanned areas. It absorbs well the advantages both the data fusion based on kalman recursive filter and
correlation analysis, with which the precision and reliability are enhanced and the status between the points can be
estimated also. It avoids the limitation of kalman filter on math model and noise statistics characteristic at the same
time. The experiment has proved that the dynamic load measure system can track those parameters, and effectively
wireless transmits them to the host computer.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We are deeply indebted to Professor C. Haiguan for his painstaking and thorough criticisms of this paper. He
invested greater efforts into his criticisms than I had put into my original thoughts. Specially, we sincerely appreciate
the Chongqing Computer Federation for giving us such an opening international conference to present our research
results.
REFERENCES
[1] H. R. Hashemip, S. Roy and A. J. Laub, Decentralized Structures for Parallel Kalman Filtering J, IEEE Transactions on
Automatic Control, 33(1): 88-93
[2] B. S. Paik and J. H. OH, Gain Fusion Algorithm for Decentralized Parallel Kalman Filtering J, IEEE Proc. Control theory Appl.
147(1): 97-103
[3] Z. Y. Qiu, Y. Z. Sheng and Z. Juan, The Optimality for the Decentralized Kalman Filtering Fusion with feedback J, Automatica,
37, 1489-1493
[4] H. Z. Qiu, H. Y. Zhang and H. Jin. Fusion Algorithm of Correlated Local Estimates J. Aerospace Science and Technology, 2004,
8: 619-626
[5] W. yonghong, X. wei and H. liping, STM32 Series Principle and Practise of ARM Cortex-M3 Microcontroller, Beijing: Press of
BUAA, 2008.7
[6] ARM Limited CortexTM-M3 Technical Reference Manual [Z/OL].
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.?Topic=/com.arm.doc.ddi0337e/index.html, (2007.09.12 ), 2008.4.10
[7] J. Jean Labrosse, Embedded Real-Time Operating System COS-II M. SCID-II2. Translator: S.beibei, Beijing: Press of BUAA,
2003, 8
AUTHORS
1
Xin LI (1981- ), male, Han Chinese, master, instructor, devote exclusively to intelligent control and embedded
systems development and applications.
Email: 94266636@qq.com.