Ontology-based meta model in object-oriented world modeling for interoperable information access

Many systems rely on the integration of environment observations provided by sensor systems to fulfill their tasks. The Object-Oriented World Model (OOWM) is an information fusion architecture allowing to integrate observations from heterogeneous sensing systems and to provide consolidated information to higher level processing modules in a compound system. Both, data integration and the provision of consolidated information require to exchange information in a meaningful and semantic interoperable way. To promote the semantic interoperability in the OOWM, an ontology-based meta model is presented, allowing to structure the knowledge used to represent application domains as well as interface information objects. This meta model defines an upper level ontology for world modeling, which can be extended by specific domain models and facilitates the integration of additional sensor systems. To allow semantic access to OOWM information, the use of OGC Web Feature Services and Sensor Observation Services based on the meta model is proposed.