Data Fusion of Geographically Dispersed Information: Experience with the Scalable Data Grid

Test and Evaluation (T&E) professionals today often face the distribution of data they need to use over significant distances. Some of these data sources are too large for easy transmission due to costs, delays, losses, security and administrative burdens. ISI has been working with the Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) on its trans-continentally distributed battlespace simulations and they have conceived, architected, implemented and tested a system that uses the data in place. This has been characterized as a Scalable Data Grid (SDG), which uses data cubes for rapid and focused retrieval. It is necessary that these data are available in a timely manner, organized for ease of access, securely stored, and easily manipulated for data mining. Suggestions are offered listing T&E situations to which the SDG approach would seem applicable. Having read the paper, the T&E researchers should be able to make a valid assessment of the utility of this approach.