The Knowledge Matrix Approach to Intelligence Fusion: Summary

As the U.S. military transforms to an information-based force, it will need processes and methods to collect, combine, and utilize the intelligence that is generated by its assets. The process known as fusion will play an important role in determining whether this intelligence is used in the most be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2007
Main Authors: Pernin, Christopher G, Moore, Louis R, Comanor, Katherine
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Intelligence
RAND Corporation
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:As the U.S. military transforms to an information-based force, it will need processes and methods to collect, combine, and utilize the intelligence that is generated by its assets. The process known as fusion will play an important role in determining whether this intelligence is used in the most beneficial manner. The process of fusion, combining pieces of information to produce higher-quality information, knowledge, and understanding, is often poorly represented in constructive models and simulations that are used to analyze intelligence issues. This report describes one approach to capturing the fusion process in a constructive simulation, providing detailed examples to aid in further development and instantiation. The sequential fusion method in intended to determine whether separate intelligence observations are close enough geographically, have consistently identified the same battlefield entity, and contain high-quality information, all of which must be considered before fusion of intelligence can occur. The fusion process described in this report is, for the most part, an implicit representation of the generation of battlefield intelligence and can be used in a constructive simulation or fusion model to better understand the dynamics of intelligence-gathering systems and their effect on intelligence metrics.