Network-centric warfare paradigm: primacy of estimation, tracking, and data fusion algorithms for the implementation of this vision

What underpins this vision as axiomatic is the mantra information is power. Besides the necessary requirement of information exchange networks with sufficient bandwidth and computational power to treat the data being passed around the network; algorithms are required to make sense of the data. It is estimation algorithms that turn the straw (data) into gold (information). Both proper execution and improvements in estimation algorithms are the enabling technology that facilitates the formation and usage of data across the envisioned warfare networks. We focus on some of the requirements that are driving the formation of these networks from a surface navy perspective in terms of estimation. We also discuss how these requirements focus the design of potentially new algorithms. We also discuss some of the crucial issues that may drive future requirements and algorithms.