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  • Plenary Talk

    • Plenary Talk

    Plenary Talk 1 - The impact of Sensor and Data Fusion thought on Engineering Practice and Engineering Education, 1975-2015

    July 07, 2015 8:30 AM - July 07, 2015 9:30 AM

    Independence A

    Motivated by challenges in detection and estimation in military systems and radar, data and sensor fusion studies burst into the scene in the mid 1970s. Many relevant architectures and data integration architectures can be traced to earlier times, but the renewed interest in the 1970s was the definitive birth (or perhaps re-birth) of the discipline. In this presentation we will follow the development and expansion of the field since its early introduction, focusing on two areas of impact: (1) utilization in engineering applications; and (2) integration of data fusion and sensor fusion in engineering curricula. Both subjects are related to questions about assumptions, realism of modeling, computational complexity, interplay of complexity and performance, and mathematical sophistication (required for entry, use, understanding and interpretation). We will follow the main themes and emphases in the data and sensor fusion literature as they evolved over the last four decades, identify the principal trends, and assess the degree of proliferation of ideas from the developing literature into disciplinary graduate and undergraduate education programs in engineering. We will further discuss what an academic course-of-study that includes sensor and data fusion would look like, who can benefit from such curriculum, and how might it be of interest to groups interested in developing new engineering education programs.

    Plenary Talk 2 - Bayesian Search for Missing Aircraft

    July 08, 2015 8:30 AM - July 08, 2015 9:30 AM

    Independence A

    Bayesian search theory provides a disciplined method for planning searches for lost objects. The Bayesian approach was successfully applied in the 2009 search for the wreckage of Air France flight 447, which was discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 2011. This talk will describe the Bayesian approach and previous applications to searches, leading up to the analysis that solved the mystery of AF447. The talk finishes with a discussion of the current search for Malaysian Air flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean, describing what is known and how the Bayesian approach could be used to guide search efforts.

    Plenary Talk 3 - Integrative GEOINT Foresight: Fusion of Transdisciplinary Expertise via Visual Analytics, Models, and Collaborative Computing

    July 09, 2015 8:30 AM - July 09, 2015 9:30 AM

    Independence A

    Our world is full of “wicked problems” – so called not because they are evil but because of their mind-boggling complexity. These problems are difficult to understand, and even more difficult – if not impossible – to solve. Climate change is one of the wicked problems we face today: its effects on global landscapes and human welfare create exceptional complexities for planners, policy makers, and decision makers. Droughts, floods, increased temperature, and other effects associated with climate change can limit resources and intensify conflicts to control them. This can create a domino effect starting with geo-physical changes and resulting in social and political effects such as migration, disease outbreak, and political instability. Each of these outcomes could have significant impacts on our national security. Anticipating the impacts of climate change on national security was recently identified as a top priority by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Last year, the DoD published the “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap,” which states, “Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict.” In this talk, we introduce and explore the transdisciplinary fusion challenges associated with a new GEOINT research partnership called the Foresight Initiative. This research effort examines the integrative nature of geospatial, temporal, contextual, and visual reasoning data. The goal of the project is to create a suite of decision-making modules and interactive, anticipatory analytic processes that policy makers can use to understand, anticipate, and mitigate national security risks associated with climate change, with a focus on water-energy-food nexus. The capabilities we develop will include processing modules for advanced data analysis, simulation, and visualization. “Foresight represents a new way of thinking,” says Nadya Bliss, the initiative’s Principal Investigator. “It’s about a new way of thinking about problems, new ways of engaging multiple disciplines, and new ways of engaging multiple agencies.” The Foresight Initiative (https://foresight.asu.edu/) is supported by a $20 million, five-year cooperative agreement from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and represents a partnership between NGA; Arizona State University; and the Argonne, Oak Ridge, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories.