Dynamic Resource Configuration & Management for Distributed Information Fusion in Maritime Surveillance

Abstract

We propose a highly adaptive and auto-configurable, multi-layer network architecture for distributed information fusion to address large volume surveillance challenges, assuming a multitude of different sensor types on multiple mobile platforms for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Our focus is on network enabled operations to efficiently manage and improve employment of a set of mobile resources, their information fusion engines and networking capabilities under dynamically changing and essentially unpredictable conditions. Building on realistic application scenarios adopted from the design and development of the CanCoastWatch system [1], we contend that distributed system concepts based on decentralized control mechanisms are crucial for the design of robust and scalable network enabled operations for several reasons.