1. 3 Types of Data Fusion in OWS-8
Steven Ramage
January 25, 2011
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

2. © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium
What is fusion?
Making new connections using existing data
A powerful method to gain understanding of the world
Not a new topic. New technology, data sources and computing approaches provide new opportunities.
Associations based on location and time are primary.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

3. OGC Fusion Standards Study Engineering Report
A product of OWS-8 – the 8th OGC Web Services Testbed
Requirements from OGC member sponsor organizations, including the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency, BAE Systems-C3I Systems and Lockheed Martin
OWS-8 participants are refining, testing and developing OGC standards and candidate standards that will ultimately enable capabilities sought by the sponsors.
The fusion standards study addressed problems associated with modifying closed information architectures so they can become part of a larger distributed architecture based upon open standards. Some of the functionality described in the engineering report can be achieved now between a limited number of systems with closed architectures based on existing single provider software and hardware solutions. The near-term advancement in deployed systems will consist of variously scaled "black boxes" like these with proprietary interfaces inside as before, but "wrapped" with open interfaces where the systems connect to the net-centric environment.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

4. Fusion as defined in OWS-8
OWS-8 sponsors and participants agreed on this definition:
“Fusion is the act or process of combining or associating data or information regarding one or more entities considered in an explicit or implicit knowledge framework to improve one’s capability (or provide a new capability) for detection, identification, or characterization of that entity.”
In other words, the fusion study team chose to define fusion broadly. By adding the word "associating" to "combining" and by including "implicit" as well as "explicit," they accept the need to work with the loosely related and often unstructured information that is typical of the Web. The phrase "or provide a new capability" suggests the need for "loose coupling", a characteristic of open standards based architectures.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

5. Role of geospatial standards
Data fusion increasingly takes place in distributed information environments
The problem is “data silos”: data stores and data streams that can be used only for specific purposes or by specific groups because of technical or institutional barriers.
Standards are the key to communication and sharing between data silos.
Communication means “transmitting or exchanging through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior.” Standardization means “agreeing on a common system.”
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Three types of fusion
Observation Fusion
Object/Feature Fusion
Decision Fusion
. Observation fusion involves fusing information from different sensors of the same physical phenomenon, such as image intelligence (IMINT), and also fusing information from sensors of different phenomena, such as fusing laser imaging detection and ranging, hyperspectral (images recording visible plus infrared and/or ultraviolet light), and overhead persistent infrared.
. Object/feature fusion involves fusing different data types from different INTs, such as fusing IMINT and SIGINT to yield information resources that are more powerful, flexible and accurate than the original sources.
. Decision fusion is the act or process of supporting a human’s ability to make a decision by providing an environment of interoperable network services for situation assessment, impact assessment and decision support, using information from multiple sensors and processed information such as multi-INT sources.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

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Categories of fusion
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8. © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium
Observation Fusion
Fusing information from different sensors of the same physical phenomenon, such as image intelligence (IMINT)
Fusing information from sensors of different phenomena, such as fusing laser imaging detection and ranging, hyperspectral (images recording visible plus infrared and/or ultraviolet light), and overhead persistent infrared.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

9. Object/Feature Fusion
Fusing different data types from different INTs, such as fusing IMINT and SIGINT
Yields information resources more powerful, flexible and accurate than the original sources.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium

10. © 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium
Decision Fusion
The act or process of supporting a human’s ability to make a decision
Involves interoperable network services for situation assessment, impact assessment and decision support
Uses information from multiple sensors and processed information such as multi-INT sources.
© 2011 Open Geospatial Consortium