Real-Time Blackboards For Sensor Fusions
Don H. Johnson, Scott Shaw, Steven Reynolds, Nageen Himayat · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1989
Multi-sensor fusion, at the most basic level, can be cast into a concise, elegant model. Reality demands, however, that this model be modified and augmented. These modifications often result in software systems that are confusing in function and difficult to debug. This problem can be ameliorated by adopting an object-oriented, data-flow programming style. For real-time applications, this approach simplifies data communications and storage management. The concept of object-oriented, data-flow programming is conveniently embodied in the black-board style of software architecture. Blackboard systems allow diverse programs access to a central data base. When the blackboard is described as an object, it can be distributed over multiple processors for real-time applications. Choosing the appropriate parallel architecture is the subject of ongoing research. A prototype blackboard has been constructed to fuse optical image regions and Doppler radar events. The system maintains tracks of simulated targets in real time. The results of this simulation have been used to direct further research on real-time blackboard systems.