The Future of Artificial Intelligence in ISR Operations

Every day, Canada and its allies conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations of one type or another. Despite many successes, operators and analysts have a daily mountain to climb--one which grows with each subsequent mission. That mountain is the result of the continual i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Air & space power journal 2021-07, Vol.35 (SE), p.41-55
Main Author: Cook, Brendan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Artificial intelligence
Big Data
Data collection
Decision making
End users
Learning
Mountains
Operators
Software utilities
Surveillance
Systems analysis
Terrain
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Every day, Canada and its allies conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations of one type or another. Despite many successes, operators and analysts have a daily mountain to climb--one which grows with each subsequent mission. That mountain is the result of the continual influx of ISR "big data" that needs to be processed, exploited, and disseminated to end users to ensure the maximum advantage is gained from each mission. Many nations now concede current systems cannot properly analyze and fuse multisensor data. Moreover, these systems cannot provide analysts and operators real-time cues to important information they may be missing. Despite the best efforts to rationalize and realign resources, the mountain of ISR big data grows along with the sense that important intelligence revelations buried in that mountain are being missed. Here, Cook defines the ISR community's big data problem as a way to understand the terrain, explores the potential of artificial intelligence to address the challenges posed by that terrain, and seeks to understand the legal and ethical pitfalls posed by AI. He also presents recommendations on how best to develop artificial intelligence, revealing a clear path to the summit of the ISR mountain.
ISSN:1555-385X
1554-2505