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Big Data, And The Internet Of Things

Decent Essays

Militaries like enterprises are excited about opportunities surrounding “big data” and the internet of things (IoT) because knowledge is generally accepted to be a source of power that provides a competitive edge. According to this theory, in war, a military should look to capture as much data as possible to plug into decision-making models, or mathematical formulas, that are predictive based on past data. The more data a model incorporates, the more accurate the results should be. However, these models have numerous flaws and their employment is not widespread and tends more to be a piece of the puzzle, not a complete answer. For example, weather is a huge consideration when planning military operations and models are used to predict weather events. These models pulling together numerous statistics then inform a less model-based decision-making process that must incorporate other considerations such as monetary cost, international relations, logistics, etc. In this way, data-driven decision-making is evolving and is nowhere near complete owing to complications such as missing data and an inability to predict future events based on historical data. Information is nonetheless an advantage and militaries intend to employ to the best of their abilities.
Sensors, computers, mobile devices, and cameras all play a crucial role in capturing, storing, and analyzing data that can inform decision-making. Of course, raw data does not lend itself well for human interpretation and for

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