Information quality in information fusion

Designing fusion systems for decision support in complex dynamic situations calls for an integrated human-machine information environment, in which some processes are best executed automatically while for others the judgment and guidance of human experts and end-users are critical. Thus decision making in such environment requires constant information exchange between human and automated agents that utilize operational data, data obtained from sensors, intelligence reports, and open source information. The quality of decision making strongly depends on the success of being aware of, and compensating for, insufficient information quality at each step of information exchange. Designing the methods of representing and incorporating information quality into this environment is a relatively new and a rather difficult problem. The paper discusses major challenges and suggests some approaches to address this problem.