Combination of interval-valued belief structures based on belief entropy

This paper investigates the issues of combination and normalization of interval-valued belief structures within the framework of Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence. Existing approaches are reviewed and thoroughly analyzed. The advantages and drawbacks of previous approach are presented. A new optimality approach based on uncertainty measure is developed, where the problem of combining interval-valued belief structures degenerates into combining basic probability assignments. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the rationality of the proposed approach.