Elizabeth Warner

Enhancing the US Navy's GIDB Portal with Web Services

Using Web services, the authors have been able to increase the amount of data accessible through the Naval Research Laboratorys geospatial information database (GIDB) portal. They created a Web crawler for Web mapping services (WMS) that harvests and adds data to the portal index and a translator that provides access to non-WMS data through the WMS interface. The integrated Web services broker, using traditional Web services standards, provides automated access to meteorological and oceanographic data

Soft computing techniques for web services brokering

To enhance and improve the interoperability of meteorological Web Services, we are currently developing an Integrated Web Services Brokering System (IWB). IWB uses a case-based classifier to automatically discover Web Services. In this paper, we explore the use of rough set techniques for selecting features prior to classification. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this feature technique by comparing it with a leading non-rough set (Information Gain) feature selection technique.

Case-based classification alternatives to ontologies for automated web service discovery and integration

Web Services are becoming the standard technology used to share data for many Navy and other DoD operations. Since Web Services technologies provide for discoverable, self-describing services that conform to common standards, this paradigm holds the promise of an automated capability to obtain and integrate data. However, automated integration of applications to access and retrieve data from heterogeneous sources in a distributed system such as the Internet poses many difficulties. Assimilation of data from Web-based sources means that differences in schema and terminology prevent simple querying and retrieval of data. Thus, machine understanding of the Web Services interface is necessary for automated selection and invocation of the correct service. Service availability is also an issue that needs to be resolved. There have been many advances on ontologies to help resolve these difficulties to support the goal of sharing knowledge for various domains of interest. In this paper we examine the use of case-based classification as an alternative/supplement to using ontologies for resolving several questions related to knowledge sharing. While ontologies encompass a formal definition of a domain of interest, case-based reasoning is a problem solving methodology that retrieves and reuses decisions from stored cases to solve new problems, and case-based classification involves applying this methodology to classification tasks. Our approach generalizes well in sparse data, which characterizes our Web Services application. We present our study as it relates to our work on development of the Advanced MetOc Broker, whose objective is the automated application integration of meteorological and oceanographic (MetOc) Web Services.

New developments in Internet-based delivery of MetOc data to Warfighters

Access and retrieval of meteorological and oceanographic data from heterogeneous sources in a distributed system presents many issues. Effective bandwidth utilization is important for any distributed system. In addition, specific issues need to be addressed in order to assimilate spatio-temporal data from multiple sources. These issues include resolution of differences in datum, map-projection and time coordinate. Reduction in the complexity of data formats is a significant factor for fostering interoperability. Simplification of training is important to promote usage of the distributed system. Here, we describe particular techniques that revolutionize the Internet-based delivery of MetOc data to address the needs of the Warfighter.

Advanced techniques in delivering data to the warfighter in a distributed information system

The future requires military operations and intelligence communities to more heavily rely on Internet-based solutions for the delivery of MetOc data and products to the warfighter in an automated manner. These issues are being addressed by Tactical Environmental Data Services (TEDServices). TEDServices is being engineered by the Naval Research Laboratory, the Naval Oceanographic Office and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, with sponsorship from Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) PMW-150. TEDServices was successfully demonstrated during April 2004, in FBE-Kilo, and is in transition to the US Navy this fiscal year. This paper will describe how TEDServices has been engineered to provide solutions to issues routinely confronted by warfighters. These solutions include, but are not limited to, better bandwidth usage, automated data ordering, simplification of data management, automated data transformations, forward deployed data caching, simplified integration with legacy tactical decision aids and support for joint interoperability.

An evaluation of case-based classification to support automated web service discovery and brokering

In this paper we evaluate the use of case-based classification to resolve a number of questions related to information sharing in the context of an Integrated Web services Brokering System (IWB). We are developing the IWB to independently decompose and analyze ad hoc Web services interface descriptions in order to identify Web services of interest. Our approach is to have the IWB cache information about each service in order to support an autonomous mediation process. In this mediation process, the IWB independently matches the users data request to the correct method within the appropriate Web service, translates the users request to the correct syntax and structure of the Web service request, dynamically invokes the method on the service, and translates the Web service response. We use casebased classification as a means of automating the IWBs analysis of relevant services and operations. Case-based classification retrieves and reuses decisions based on training data. We use sample Web Service Description Language (WSDL) files and schema from actual Web services as training data in our approach and do not require the service to pre-deploy an OWL-S ontology. We present our evaluation of this approach and performance ratings in the context of meteorological and oceanographic (MetOc) Web services as it relates to the IWB.

Active network architecture and management

Access and retrieval of meteorological and oceanographic data from heterogeneous sources in a distributed system presents many issues. There are a number of features of the TEDServices system that illustrate active network management for such data. There is a self‐aware or intelligent aspect with respect to the mechanisms for shutdown, data ordering, and propagation of data orders. Intelligent cache management and collaborative application sharing process are other features of the active network management. Additionally a very important capability is the implementation of resumable object streams, which allows either the client or server side of a request to lose network connection, regain it, and the request will continue where it left off.

Web services: evolving techniques in net-centric operations

Web services are often seen as the net-centric enabling technology for many US Navy operations. While Web services are increasingly used for data distribution in a network centric environment, Web services only constitute a baseline specification that provides the foundation on which application developers, under current approaches, write specialized software in order to retrieve data over the Internet. Software development and maintenance can increase with the increase in number of different available Web services due to such factors as new XML schema, XML schema versioning differences and variations in interface methods. In this paper, we provide an overview of Web services and provide examples of Web services for Navy net-centric operations as applied to meteorological and oceanographic (MetOc) data. We then present issues related to the evolution of MetOc Web services to particular Navy needs. Finally, we describe a new project we have begun, the Advanced MetOc Broker (AMB), which will assist with minimizing specialized software development for new and ad hoc Web services for the MetOc domain. The AMB will apply MetOc ontologies to knowledge-based techniques in order to support an advanced approach to the use of Web services; namely, the automated identification and retrieval of MetOc data.

Adopting and adapting a commercial view of web services for the Navy

Web Services are being adopted as the enabling technology to provide net-centric capabilities for many Department of Defense operations. The Navy Enterprise Portal, for example, is Web Services-based, and the Department of the Navy is promulgating guidance for developing Web Services. Web Services, however, only constitute a baseline specification that provides the foundation on which users, under current approaches, write specialized applications in order to retrieve data over the Internet. Application development may increase dramatically as the number of different available Web Services increases. Reasons for specialized application development include XML schema versioning differences, adoption/use of diverse business rules, security access issues, and time/parameter naming constraints, among others. We are currently developing for the US Navy a system which will improve delivery of timely and relevant meteorological and oceanographic (MetOc) data to the warfighter. Our objective is to develop an Advanced MetOc Broker (AMB) that leverages Web Services technology to identify, retrieve and integrate relevant MetOc data in an automated manner. The AMB will utilize a Mediator, which will be developed by applying ontological research and schema matching techniques to MetOc forms of data. The AMB, using the Mediator, will support a new, advanced approach to the use of Web Services; namely, the automated identification, retrieval and integration of MetOc data. Systems based on this approach will then not require extensive end-user application development for each Web Service from which data can be retrieved. Users anywhere on the globe will be able to receive timely environmental data that fits their particular needs.

Spatio-temporal data access for information-based decision making

Supporting large volumes of multi-dimensional data is an inherent characteristic of modern database applications, such as geographical information systems (GIS), and image and multimedia databases. such databases need underlying systems with extended features like query languages, data models, and indexing methods, as compared to traditional databases, mainly because of the complexity of representing and retrieving data. In particular, spatio-temporal information systems must efficiently store and access potentially very large quantities of spatial and temporal data so we have developed index structures that can capture the time varying nature of moving objects, namely spatio-temporal structures. This paper describes the design of a query system for such data.