What would Ajax have observed? Or, introducing imperfections in the belief systems of autonomous agents

Autonomous agents in computer simulations do not have the usual mechanisms to acquire information as do their human counterparts. In many such simulations, it is not desirable that the agent have access to complete and correct information about its environment. The authors examine how imperfection in available information may be simulated in the case of autonomous agents. They determine probabilistically what the agent may observe in a given situation. These observations are combined with the agent´s knowledge base to infer other observations. When multiple values are obtained for an attribute, the individual values are combined to obtain a final value representing the agent´s belief. The application of this technique to autonomous forces in combat simulation systems is discussed