Multi-sensor integration management in the earth observation sensor web: State-of-the-art and research challenges

Significant advancements in Earth Observation (EO) technologies, encompassing global remote sensing and environment sensor networks, have greatly progressed the field of earth science. The management of EO sensors is crucial in collecting effective and changing EO data in real-time. Over the past few decades, Sensor Management (SM) and Multi-Sensor Management (MSM) have been extensively applied to EO research and reviewed in previous studies. The demands for EO have become highly complex with the advent of the EO sensor web era, necessitating Multi-Sensor Integration Management (MSIM), which is an advanced development of MSM. The concept of MSIM and its methods have been discussed worldwide, and the prototypes have exhibited remarkable potential for EO applications. However, MSIM is yet to be reviewed for a long time. This work provides a detailed overview of the emergence of MSIM and specifies its four key methods. This work also examines the typical MSIM prototypes and applications in EO. Then, this work identifies four future directions of MSIM in EO research. This review concludes that MSIM has emerged as a novel and indispensable sensor management paradigm set to play a significant role in the advancement of earth science research and practical applications in the future.