Validation of Information Fusion
This work addresses validation challenges for information fusion systems, particularly in adversarial settings, but is incremental as it refines existing definitions rather than introducing a new paradigm.
The paper tackles the problem of validating information fusion systems by proposing a formal definition that separates system properties from external interventions, and illustrates this approach with the validation process in DARPA's RAID program focused on adversarial environments.
We motivate and offer a formal definition of validation as it applies to information fusion systems. Common definitions of validation compare the actual state of the world with that derived by the fusion process. This definition conflates properties of the fusion system with properties of systems that intervene between the world and the fusion system. We propose an alternative definition where validation of an information fusion system references a standard fusion device, such as recognized human experts. We illustrate the approach by describing the validation process implemented in RAID, a program conducted by DARPA and focused on information fusion in adversarial, deceptive environments.