Combination of weighted belief functions based on evidence distance and conflicting belief

Dempster-Shafer(DS) theory involves counter-intuitive behaviors when evidence highly conflicts. A new approach of combination of weighted belief functions is proposed to solve the problem. If many pieces of evidence are to be combined, the amount of conflict between evidences is at first evaluated by both evidence distance and conflicting belief, and every piece of evidence is given a weight coefficient according to its amount of conflict with the others. Two different methods are separately used to modify the belief function of each piece of evidence based on its weight coefficient. Finally, the modified functions are combined by DS rule. In the last part of this paper, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and the good performance of convergence of the proposed approach in case of high conflict between evidences.