The Next Generation Air Transportation System Information Sharing Environment (NISE) Semantic Technical Symposium Series March 21, 2012 Charleston, SC 1
NextGen Air Transportation System As traffic in the National Airspace grows in volume, the associated information is expected to grow. Much of this information comes from multiple sources, covers a broad range of topics, and requires manual treatment. As a result, there is a clear need to modernize the information environment associated with the National Airspace. Users require easy access to the information they need, as well as the ability to understand and use this information. 2
Mission Net-Centric Operations Division (NCOD) leads the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), agency partners, and industry to realize information sharing capabilities to improve situational awareness, enhance decision making, and facilitate collaboration. Information Exchange Architecture, Process, Ontology Network Infrastructure Demonstration Capability Experimentation and Measurement Outreach 3
Big Picture Net-Centric Operations Division (NCOD) promotes policies and strategies for information sharing and coordinate investment and development of network-enhancing capabilities Work to make the information understandable by: Defining an ontology (or shared vocabulary) Documenting required information exchanges Provisioning services to improve discoverability, re-use, understandability Work to make the information discoverable and accessible through registry, Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal Help to identify accurate and timely data Identifying Authoritative Data Sources, which provide accurate and timely data Incorporating metadata about the accuracy and timeliness of data 4
5 Information Sharing Challenges State/Local Government Commercial Entities International Partners Weather Integrated Surveillance UAS Flight and Flow Safety Airport Operations Airline Operations Other Communities Standards s Data Weather Flight Track SAR Time Other s AXIM WXXM FIXM KML GML WCS WFS WMS ebxml UDDI Other Standards Classification Live Geospatial Coverage Recorded Temporal Coverage Simulated publish conform
Challenges Continued- SOA Silos Airline Code Lookup Table Data: UA User Flight Track Display 1 Human Communication FAA Flight Track Web HR Army Reference Field Name: Commercial Flight Data: 122 3 1 AF SME 2 Custom Mapping AF Flight Track Web Field Name: Flight of Interest Data: United 122 Developer Custom Development 2 3 System Integration Custom Mapping SME Other Data Provider HR ArmyHR Marine Field Name: FlightID Data: UA122 Excess time is spent interpreting data from different sources despite the usage of advanced IT techniques like Web s 6
NCOD Information Sharing Approach Repeatable process for developing shared understanding through definition of information elements across domains. Technology capabilities stack that enables the information sharing vision of NextGen. s Oriented Architecture Semantic Web Technology Federated Ontology Interagency infrastructure that employs the technology stack and information sharing approaches and validates them in a near-realistic environment. Enables shared R&D Addresses real-world info sharing obstacles Identifies pathways to near-term operational improvements 7
Shared Understanding 8
Process for Inter Agency Shared Understanding Key Deliverables COI Ontology Business Context (DoDAF Artifacts) Other Artifacts Completed Engagements Weather Integrated Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System Consistent with DoD Net-Centric Data Strategy COI Ontology (RDF/OWL) Business Process Analysis (OV 2) Information Exchange Description (OV 3) Operational Activity Model (OV 5b) Requirements Document (SV 4) Systems Communications Description (SV 2) 9
Ontology Development Process 10
Technical Capabilities 11
Semantics Metadata Catalog and Portal SOA Registry Scope Governed within an Agency Focused on discoverability of published services Supports only flat, non-semantic data Focused on governance Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal Extended Capabilities Utilizes existing SOA Registry capabilities Addresses cross-agency information exchanges Facilitates collaboration Focuses on discoverability of defined information exchanges Takes full advantage of Semantic Relationships defined in ontologies Bottom Line: Provides an intelligent search Utilizes semantic discovery capabilities beyond simple keywords Yields a more targeted result set 12
Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal Architecture Weather Registration and Discovery JPDO User Interface Layer Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal Semantic Processing Layer Integrated Surveillance NextGen Ontology Registration and Discovery Semantic Metadata Portal Ontology Portal Web s Layer Semantic Metadata Catalog Artifact Catalog Integration Layer Integration of Federated Registry Existing SOA UDDI Registry ebxml External Systems GIIEP SWIM Access Color Key: Semantic External Future 13
Semantic Mediation Bus (SMB) An ontology-based web services mediation component that enables services with different message formats to interoperate Embedding in an Enterprise Bus (e.g. SWIM Enterprise Messaging ) enables runtime semantic mediation within traditional SOA infrastructure, creating a Semantic Mediation Bus TM Common Ontology Enterprise Bus Semantic Mediator Semantic Mediation Bus TM Registry/ Repository Semantic Annotation Message Schema Mapping Web Proxy Semantic Lookup and Interoperability Assessment Metadata Management Protocol Adaption Message Transformation Message Routing Security Discovery Traditional SOA infrastructure Semantic Mediation Infrastructure Semantic Mediation Bus is a trade mark of Alion Science and Technology Corporation. The Technology is provided to JPDO under a limited use license. 14
Inter-Agency Infrastructure 15
Infrastructure Net-Enabled Test Environment (NETE) Concept Virtual test environment no new facility Government and industry participation Experimental approach test, measure, evaluate, adjust Adopting existing projects; leveraging progress Benefits Data sets made available will bring interested developers Allows demonstration of concepts to flesh out requirements Network Infrastructure Allows trade-off studies for architectural decisions standards, processes, TTPs, tools, infrastructure design Tests Governance model for efficiency Accessible to all NextGen participants; can link to outside data sources/consumers Leverages work already done by NextGen stakeholders 16
Technology in Action: NETE Demonstrations Weather AF Electronic Systems Center descriptions from registry will imported for inter-agency discovery. ebxml NOAA NET NOAA Registry Integrated Surveillance Alion NETE Lab NETE Dashboard FAA/National Security Display Demo Control Semantic Metadata Portal Ontology Portal JPDO User Interface Layer Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal Web s Layer Semantic Process Layer Artifact Catalog Semantic Metadata Catalog Integration Layer FAA WCS WFS WMS NAS Registry NNEW Web Coverage RI Data Source 3-D Radar Mosaic Mock s R&D Domain FAA Emergency OPS SWIM ASDI EON Dashboard DEX ASDE SMDC GIIEP Demo 1 Other s will be entered into the Semantic Metadata Catalog through User Interface. Demo 2 One Year Challenge NASA LaRC Timing External/Future HWDS 17
Demonstrations Inter-Agency Infrastructure Modeling Developed a framework for analyzing inter-agency information sharing services Focused on the performance and communication characteristics of candidate applications Communication Validation Demonstration Prepared NETE as the experimentation/demonstration platform Established connectivity among nodes Demonstration Capability Information Exchange Demonstration #1 Established the software and service framework Exercised information exchanges related to integrated surveillance and weather Demonstrated the Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal prototype 2/2011 3/2011 5/2011 Information Exchange Demonstration #2 Demonstrated the Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal prototype enhanced for community use Integrated FAA National Air Space Registry (SWIM registry), made SWIM services discoverable/available for use Made FAA operational data available through FTI DEX gateway to users on the NETE Showed registry and availability of services to access data for Integrated Surveillance and Weather missions 8/2011 Integrated Surveillance Demo 10/2011 18
Putting It All Together Governance Discovery Business Concept Relationships Data Sources Shared Understanding Communities of Interest SWIM Design Time SIP Registry NAS Registry and Repository (NSRR) Semantic Metadata Catalog and Portal Run Time Provider Consumer SWIM NAS Enterprise Messaging (NEMS) Semantic Mediation State/Local Government Reuse Interoperability COI Governance Semantic Discovery Information Federation Semantic Interoperability ESB Federation Commercial Entities International Partners 19
NextGen Information Sharing Environment Information Providers Geospatial Info Weather Info Flight Object Info Safety Info Security Info Intel Reports Sensor Data Airline Info Airport Info Other Info Providers NextGen Enterprise s (Notional) User Defined Operation Picture s Decision Support s Collaboration s Track Correlation s Other s Semantic Layer Data Layer NextGen Information Layer Sharing Environment Security Layer Network Layer Business Operations Layer NISE Technical Profile Semantically-Enabled Core Enterprise s Messaging Semantically- Enabled Content Discovery Security Semantic Mediation Bus Enterprise Management Semantically- Enabled Discovery The Technical Profile defines a set of NextGen Specifications to guide future NextGen enterprise service development programs GOAL Procurement-quality specifications that can be used to drive acquisition of interoperable services, systems, and networks in support of information sharing. Aircraft Air Traffic Control Human Users, Applications, or s Human Users, Applications, or s in Aviation Operations Information Consumers Unanticipated Human Users, Applications, or s 20
Questions? Lowell Vizenor, PhD Semantic Technology Practice Lead Alion Science and Technology lvizenor@alionscience.com 21