730007Platform for semantic web and system engineering applicationsClosedLegacy RDA Grant for R&DInnovate UKThe Semantic Web is the next major development for the World Wide Web (WWW). Currently we can only publish unstructured data on web pages, which cannot be processed by computer applications. The Semantic Web will enable the publication of structured data, effectively turning the WWW into one global database. While this has been shown to work in principle by researchers such as those at Southampton University, it suffers from the same problems referred to in Slide 3. Here the portal is replaced by the lnternet/intranet, and the data warehouse replaced by what is called "Triple Store" (a structured database accessible over the Internet), Slide 6. Slide 7 depict the architectures for the current technology and Slide 8 how the uiP solve this problem. Furthermore, all current research in the area is focused on information modelling only. No effort is being spent today on how data published on the Semantic Web may be used - other than to read the data, which is not much improvement on what can be done with web pages. A possible reason for this is that while the Semantic Web information model is simple, elegant and extensible, it is not suited for implementation in software applications. Software applications run more effectively on data structured in tabular form (i.e. the relational database model). Modelling techniques and methodologies used in the Semantic Web area can also be applied to supporting the System Engineering Methodology (ISO 15288). ISO 15288 is a more comprehensive standard than the well-know ISO 9001. While many large multinational corporations have been adopting System Engineering Methodologies in some form, none of these have been computer based. The requirements for Syystem Engineering are similar to those for the Semantic Web. So if the Semantic Web issues can be solved, the same solution would equally apply to supporting System Engineering Methodologies. Effective System Engineering Methodologies are essential in major programmes where not only data and system integration issues need to be solved, but also how to model and manage processes, activities people and deliverables and objectives, all of which can change through the execution of a major programme. Slide 9 shows a relatively small problem can escalate to be a major problem that can threaten the very existence of a company. In the case of the Airbus A380 super jumbo programme, a wiring harness design problem that was not addressed in time, resulted in 5bn euro being wiped of the value of Airbus parent company, EADS, in one week. The Challenger space shuttle disaster that lost the lives of 7 US astronauts was the result of contractors systems using different units of measure that was not spotted in time. This project aims to demonstrate how these problems may be solved.