Horizontal Integration based upon Decentralized Data Fusion ( DDF

The major focus in the joint-services area today is on Horizontal Integration (HI)– rapidly fusing and exploiting the data from different collection systems to speed the flow of correlated intelligence to war fighters, both for situational awareness and targeting. In this paper we discuss several technologies potentially useful in HI. They are Decentralized Data Fusion (DDF), NetCentric Architecture (NCA), and Analysis Collaboration Tools (ACT). DDF, NCA, and ACT could provide pathfinders and enablers for future implementation of HI across current 'stovepipe' collection and analysis systems. HI will ultimately require effective command and control of air, ground, naval, and space-based intelligence collection and dissemination systems. This control will be achieved through net-centric information management that includes dynamic links between a 'global' database and multiple locally maintained databases that contain data obtained from component stovepipe systems. The links between communication nodes will allow global information to be updated automatically with information from distributed assets. The motivation for providing connectivity and automated information sharing among distributed platforms/nodes is to increase the amount of information available at each node. The technology enablers for HI include, but are not limited to, the following: • Net-Centric Architecture (NCA)-A network architecture that gives component platforms access to multi-level security information and communications over a two-way encrypted TCP/IP connection allowing net-centric control and utilization of ISR assets. • Decentralized Data Fusion (DDF)-The DDF framework includes a proposed solution to the data fusion problem called Covariance Intersection (CI), as well as a solution to the information corruption problem called Covariance Union (CU). • Analysis Collaboration Tool (ACT)-NRL has developed an analysis collaboration tool (ACT) to be used for virtual collaboration in intelligence support. ACT is a second-generation tool for implementation of application sharing and collaboration between analysts. Second generation meaning that ACT can be used to collaborate complex analysis applications 'out of the box' without source code changes or the need for configuration management.