Uncertainty in the fusion of information from multiple diverse sources for situation awareness

Todaypsilas military and humanitarian operations involve multiple partners and agencies and rely on information culled from a variety of different sources, including humans, sensors, robots, etc. Efficient, timely exchange and evaluation of information is required for effective operations. However, the sheer volume of information prohibits integration of incoming information for the situation awareness necessary to effective operations. Automatic processing of information can be accomplished by using a standardized formal language (in our case Battle Management Language) in reports concerning activities and conditions in the theater of operation. This standardized language supports automatic fusion of individual pieces of information into more complex patterns of behavior. However, sources of information are seldom completely reliable hence any synthesis of data requires determination of the amount of uncertainty inherent in this evaluation. In this paper we examine issues involved in the evaluation of the uncertainty in the fusion of information from diverse sources.