Description: The proposed Advanced Study Institute (ASI)  "Multisensor Data and Information Processing for Rapid and Robust Situation and Threat Assessment"  will continue the exploration of multi-sensor processing that began with the ASI held in Pitlochry, Scotland, UK, 25 Jun 2000 - 7 Jul 2000, PST.976518 and in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia 18-29 August 2003, SST 979583.  This ASI will be held in Bulgaria in May 2005.

Background: The first ASI held in Pitlochry was classified to be within the Physical and Engineering Science and Technology (PST) scientific areas, and concentrated on the exploitation of mathematics, engineering, computer science, statistics and other sciences within the methods, techniques and applications of Data Fusion.  The second ASI focused predominantly on applying Data Fusion to Security-Related Civil Science and Technology (SST) applications.  This proposed ASI will be devoted to multi-sensor processing in the framework of novel and rapid methods of detection for Defence Against Terrorism, which is a NATO Priority Research Topic.  Emphasis will be put on remote sensing and satellite imagery, two parts of space research, which is a Partner country priority for Bulgaria.  Therefore, this ASI will cover both a NATO priority and a Partner priority.

Data Fusion: Data Fusion, resulting from multi-sensor processing, is a relatively young (less than 20 years) technology domain.  It provides techniques and methods for:

To benefit Defence Against Terrorism, Data Fusion can:

Various sensors have been designed to detect some specific phenomena, but not others.  Data Fusion applications can combine synergically information from many sensors, including data provided by satellites and contextual and encyclopaedic knowledge, to provide enhanced ability to detect and recognize anomalies in the environment, compared with conventional means.  Data Fusion is an integral part of multi-sensor processing, but it can also be applied to fuse non-sensor information (geopolitical, intelligence, etc.) to provide decision support for a timely and effective situation and threat assessment.
 
One special field of application for Data Fusion is satellite imagery, which can provide extensive information over a wide area of the electromagnetic spectrum using several types of sensors (Visible, Infra-Red (IR), Thermal IR, Radar, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR), Hyperspectral...). Satellite imagery provides the coverage rate needed to identify and monitor human activities from agricultural practices (land use, crop types identification...) to defence-related surveillance (land/sea target detection and classification) (http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ccrs/rd/sci_pub/bibpdf/13103_1.pdf ). By acquiring remotely sensed imagery over earth regions that land sensors cannot access, valuable information can be gathered for the Defence Against Terrorism.

At the present time very few universities (mostly in the United States) offer graduate studies in Data Fusion, and no undergraduate training is available.  While there are research centres in both NATO and Cooperating Partner (CP) countries involved in researching the various disciplines used in Data Fusion, research in applications of these technologies is significantly more advanced in NATO countries.  Hence, there exists a need to bring together leading researchers in this domain from both NATO and CP countries to develop an understanding on how to use the techniques and methods of Data Fusion, specifically in Defence Against Terrorism applications.

NATO - ASI 2005: For this ASI, Bulgaria will act as a NATO Partner country. Bulgaria recently received full NATO membership. As a new NATO country, Bulgaria plays an important role in guaranteeing the security of internal alliance borders. Bulgaria is at the crossroads of the Balkans region - the hottest and most sensitive place in Europe. Because of its strategic location, interest in Bulgaria's selecting appropriate sensor sets for specific applications and applying data fusion techniques for different anti-terrorist purposes has grown continuously. This meeting will help researchers, developers and users of real-time algorithms for intelligent machine development and multiple sensor technologies for target detection, recognition and threat assessment.
 
The topic of this ASI will cover the following priorities for Bulgaria as a NATO Partner country:

This meeting will gather the best specialists in multiple sensor data and information processing, remote sensing and image processing from Bulgaria and other NATO or CP countries. In Bulgaria there are a number of official institutions interested in organizing this forum. The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) will participate as a co-partner with its Institute for Parallel Processing (IPP). BAS is the most powerful scientific organization in the host country. IPP is one of the leading and most established research institutes in Eastern Europe. The European Community (EC) recognized its excellence during the selection of "Centers of Excellence" in education, science and technology in the associated countries. IPP was one of 34 centres selected from over 300 applicants, and was awarded considerable EC support to further strengthen its excellence, via contract ICA1-2000-70016. The Department of Mathematical Methods for Sensor Information Processing (DMMSIP), another host country institution, was one of initiators of this NATO ASI. DMMSIP, with a research staff of 14 members, has significant experience in sensor system R&D. The availability of installations fully equipped and the presence of proven excellent specialists in the area of ASI are a good base for the successful organization of this proposed NATO ASI.