Chasing the elusive sensor manager

In a modern aircraft, data fusion is the process by which data about the environment are gathered, combined, reasoned over, and presented to the pilot. Determining which data to gather is obviously important to achieving effective data fusion. But the need for data depends on uncertain, interrelated and dynamic factors. This fact has pushed data-gathering determination beyond the ability of the human and led researchers to study structured decision-aiding systems called sensor managers. This paper discusses sensor management, focusing first on the problem it poses in a modern tactical aircraft and then on attributes that would be desirable in an effective sensor manager. Several techniques that offer promise are discussed.<<ETX>>