An Introduction to Quantum Computing and Data Fusion

While it is still open, whether and which role quantum computers may play in our daily life, it can be proven that they have the potential to solve certain classes of complex problems with less effort than classical computers. As first quantum computers (QC) already exist and are available to the public, it is worth to look into the quantum world as scientist or engineer in order to see possible applications in the field of data fusion, target tracking, or resource allocation. This Distinguished Lecture provides the basic physical theory behind QC in an understandable way for non-physicists and explains the basic manipulations of qubits. Then an introduction of some algorithms is given and examples for data fusion problems are provided.