The value of information in the multi-objective mission

In many multi-objective missions there are situations when actions based on maximum information gain may not be the `best' given the overall mission objectives. In addition to properties such as entropy, information also has value which is situationally dependent. This paper presents a derivation of information value that considers both the context of information, via a fused world belief state, and a system mission. A simulated security operation in a structured environment is implemented, with a system of mobile heterogeneous sensors tasked with information gathering. Information value is then used to determine the expected reward for sensor observations of various points in area of operations. A brief comparison is then made to a selection of pure information gain schemes. From simulation results, it has been found that information value often captures elements of the mission and context not apparent using other information entropy metrics.