Getting the “best” from data sharing

Better and more accurate data exchange is critical for delivering high performance ATM and aviation worldwide. System-wide information management (SWIM) is a key enabler in this endeavour, providing the framework to allow seamless digital information sharing between the right stakeholders at the right time, no matter where they are located in the world.

However, the full benefits of SWIM can only be achieved if advanced support can be provided for developing smart SWIM-based applications that manage information effectively, and semantic technologies offer a promising way to do that. With this in mind, the BEST project investigated how semantic technologies can be used effectively to maximise the benefits of adopting SWIM. 

Based ont several use cases, the project produced guidelines about how to use ontologies in flexible ways to describe meta-data, and how these can be used in innovative yet scalable ways. The project also demonstrated how the ATM information reference model (AIRM) and various data exchange models can be transformed into web ontology language (OWL) representations, allowing these models to be processed by semantic technologies. 

The project produced tools to automate the transformation process, as well as compliance validation tools to automate consistency checking between different models. The project also developed a modularisation tool, allowing large and complex models (such as AIRM) to be automatically split into smaller, more manageable units. 

Ontologies: one of the key concepts used in semantic technologies.  An ontology is a formal definition of the types, properties, and interrelationships of the entities that exist in some domain of discourse.  Used to describe a domain, classifying and categorizing the elements contained within it, in a structured and precise way.

OWL: short name for the Web ontology language – a language for representing rich and complex knowledge about things as an ontology, in a form that be directly processed by computer software.

AIRM: ATM information reference model, produced in the original SESAR project.

Benefits

• Better understanding of the potential for using semantic technologies in ATM information management
• Enables filtering and distribution of information using meta-data
• Partial automation of (currently labour-intensive) compliance validation processes
• Automated modularisation, with potential benefits for governance
• Better understanding of scalability issues