On platform-based sensor management

Abstract

The design of a generic mechanism for platform-based data fusion and sensor management is described. It is based on the duality between two types of agents, task agents and sensor agents. Task agents buy information from sensor agents that sell it, and sensors produce information that tasks consume. These buy and sell interactions occur very frequently for systems involving sensors that work with small action durations. When several sensors are available, the sell/buy interaction involve selection and scheduling of sensors. The task concept is similar to the old decision or OODA (observe/orient/decide/act) loop that has since long been used for understanding human participation in complex command and control problems. A task might be described as a tiny OODA loop, with predefined purpose and processing capability. There are numerous task types, each dedicated to a certain skill or sensor process. The design is evaluated in single and multiplatform applications.