Fusion of experimental data

Abstract

The integration of information from various sensory systems is one of the most difficult challenges in understanding both perception and cognition. For example, the problem of auditory-visual integration is a correspondence problem between perceived auditory and visual scenes. Two main questions arise when designing data analysis systems: what is the useful information to be integrated?, and what are the integration rules? The problem of integrating information becomes relevant whenever: (a) the same kind of data are detected by spatially distributed sensors; (b) heterogeneous data are detected by different sensors; (c) heterogeneous distributed data are involved. General problems concerning the integration of experimental data are reviewed. The case of the BeppoSAX X-ray astronomical satellite is given as an example.