A cyber infrastructure for evaluating the performance of human centered fusion

Humans are becoming an increasing important component of information fusion systems including; (1) acting as observers or "soft sensors" to augment traditional sensor systems, (2) participating in data analysis by using semantic reasoning and pattern recognition to augment computer processing, and (3) collaborating in ad hoc teams for situational analyses. These roles are supported by emerging information technologies such as social networking tools, advanced visual displays and cognitive aids. This paper describes a cyber infrastructure and associated research strategy developed at Penn State University to support human in the loop experiments to quantitatively evaluate concepts and tools for human centered information fusion. Examples of ongoing experiments are also presented.