Acoustic signal interpretation: Reasoning with non-specific and uncertain information

An expert system approach to identifying the sources of underwater acoustic signals is described. Much of the information about ocean vessels, which is derived from acoustic features, is non-specific (i.e. pointing only to general classes of vessels). As well, there is often uncertainty both in the accuracy of the feature identification and in the applicability of the rules in the knowledge base. In order to deal with non-specific and uncertain evidence in the presence of an unknown number of signal sources, we develop an inference network approach which is based on the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence.