Title: Towards a Semantic Web of Things for Smart Cities

Funder
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Principal Investigator

Howell, Shaun


Co-Investigators
Rezgui, Yacine
Li, Haijiang


Project Details

Start date: 01/07/2013

End date: 30/06/2017

Abstract



Realising the value of the
growing quantity of web-enabled devices and data is a significant global
challenge, and is essential in overcoming environmental and economic issues.
This is especially true in urban environments, where the concentration of technology
is highest, and the complex system of systems nature requires advanced
applications built across widely varied data sources. Specifically, this raises
deep unsolved interoperability challenges in bridging the terminological,
semantic, and cultural chasms across data sources and organisations.



This PhD hypothesises that using
the semantic web to improve the synergy between IoT and AI is key to overcoming
this challenge. Participatory action research and design research methods were
undertaken, involving engagement with 6 research projects and circa 40
organisations. The work initially focused on the energy domain; developing and
analysing software and ontologies alongside experts, before an extended
learning iteration in the water domain was undertaken, producing a smart water
semantic model and platform. Finally, an upper ontology for smart cities and an
accompanying semantic web of things platform and 3D user interface were built
and analysed.



The work concludes that a
semantic web of things approach promotes dramatic interoperability benefits.
Semantic technologies are well suited to addressing the ‘variety’ of big data
in IoT systems, and support a system of systems approach to smart city
management. Existing research in the field focuses on annotating sensors with
ICT descriptors. The main contribution to the body of knowledge is the value of
integrating this with rich application domain semantics. By incorporating
conceptual modelling of the IoT field with that of application domains such as
energy, water, and cities, the value proposition of semantic technologies is
improved further. Future work involves investigating the use of the artefacts
developed in other smart city domains, and furthering the consensus-building
process towards standardisation.


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Last updated on 2017-13-12 at 12:04