A new multi-expert decision combination algorithm and its application to the detection of circumscribed masses in digital mammograms

Abstract

A new multiple expert fusion algorithm is introduced, designated the “augmented behaviour-knowledge space method”. Most existing multiple expert classification methods rely on a large training dataset in order to be properly utilised. The proposed method effectively overcomes this problem as it exploits the confidence levels of the decisions of each classifier. It will be shown that this new approach is advantageous when small datasets are available, and this is illustrated in its application to the detection of circumscribed masses in digital mammograms, with very encouraging results.