Distributed Data Fusion for Network-Centric Operations

Dr. David L. Hall is the dean for The Pennsylvania State University College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). He also serves as a professor of IST and director of the Center for Network Centric Cognition and Information Fusion (NC2IF). Dr. Hall has industrial experience and has lectured internationally on the topics of multisensor data fusion, artificial intelligence, and research management and technology forecasting.Dr. Chee-Yee Chong is a chief scientist at BAE Systems Technology Solutions. He has been involved in distributed fusion research for over 25 years, starting with the Distributed Sensor Networks (DSN) program for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1980s. Dr. Chong’s research interests include centralized and distributed estimation, target tracking, information fusion, optimization and resource management, and application to real-world problems.Dr. James Llinas is a professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He created the Center for Multisource Information Fusion (CMIF) at the University at Buffalo, the only university research center conducting information fusion research in a systemic context, and is currently director emeritus of the Center. An expert on data fusion, he has lectured internationally on the subject for over 20 years, co-authored the first integrated text on information fusion, and has consulted extensively and internationally for many years.Martin E. Liggins II is an engineer with The MITRE Corporation. He has more than 20 years of research and development experience in industry and with the U.S. Department of Defense. He has performed fusion research in a number of areas, including sensor and data fusion, multisensor and multitarget tracking, radar, high-performance computing, and program management.

"... a collection of chapters from leading thinkers in this emerging field ... This book represents the best body of thinking on the emerging topic of distributed data fusion, including varied aspects of the problem itself and a multitude of approaches to address the stated challenges."—Dale Walsh, The MITRE Corporation, Gainesville, Virginia, USA"This book addresses a very timely topic—the confluence of the emerging networked sensing and fusion, which leads to distributed data fusion of network-centric operations. ... The list of authors in this book reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in the field ... . Consequently, this book is very comprehensive and covers all the important topics needed by researchers in this area. Another attractive aspect of this book is that the list of authors includes theoreticians as well as practitioners of data fusion and network-centric systems. This provides the reader with the best of both worlds and some very unique perspectives."—Raja Suresh, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, USA "This book provides a comprehensive introduction and detailed design descriptions of the methods for distributing the data fusion functions within grid, distributed, and cloud computing architectures."—Ed Waltz, BAE Systems, Chantilly, Virginia, USA"Written in a manner that particularly highlights topics of direct relevance to a Department of Defense reader ... As is typical for these editors, the chapters provide a well-organized, thorough review of the field from both a theoretical and applied research perspective. The book will most certainly serve as a useful tool for fusion researchers and practitioners alike as we continue to grapple with the critical issue of ensuring our data collection efforts have a clear and positive impact on mission outcome." —From the Foreword by Barbara D. Broome, Chief, Information Sciences Division, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi Laboratory Center, Maryland, USA

• Perspectives on Distributed Data Fusion. Distributed Data Fusion: Overarching Design Concerns and Some New Approaches. Network-Centric Concepts: Impacts to Distributed Fusion System Design. Distributed Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks. Fundamentals of Distributed Estimation. Essence of Distributed Target Tracking: Track Fusion and Track Association. Decentralized Data Fusion: Formulation and Algorithms. Toward a Theoretical Foundation for Distributed Fusion. Object Classification in a Distributed Environment. A Framework for Distributed High-Level Fusion. Threat Analysis in Distributed Environments. Ontological Structures for Higher Levels of Distributed Fusion. Service-Oriented Architecture for Human-Centric Information Fusion. Nonmyopic Sensor Management. Test and Evaluation of Distributed Data and Information Fusion Systems and Processes. Human Engineering Factors in Distributed and Net-Centric Fusion Systems. Distributed Data and Information Fusion in Visual Sensor Networks. Index.