A Proof-of-Concept Prototype of a Database Management System for Versioning and Distributed Storage of Semantic Containers in Project BEST

In air traffic management (ATM), information management is of major importance. The safety of aircraft, passengers, and goods depends on effective information management. System Wide Information Management (SWIM) aims at facilitating the information exchange between ATM stakeholders such as pilots and air traffic controllers. In order to realize the full potential of SWIM, the BEST project – a joint research effort between industry and academia within the SESAR joint undertaking of the EU Horizon 2020 framework – proposed the use of semantic containers for packaging ATM information and subsequently retrieving relevant information for specific tasks. This thesis presents a proof-of-concept implementation of a semantic container management system (SCMS) based on the concepts developed in the BEST project. In this regard, the main focus of this thesis is the development of a REST API which serves as the backend of the SCMS. For demonstration purposes, this thesis also provides a web frontend. The SCMS allows for the replication of semantic containers on multiple locations. To this end, the SCMS distinguishes between logical and physical containers. A shared RDF database, which could be fully replicated, serves as a registry of logical containers; it allows for searching of containers that fit a specific information need. Each location then keeps a local registry of physical containers which consists of an RDF database for metadata management and an XML database for storing the actual data sets. Furthermore, each location may store multiple versions of a container, reflecting the evolution of the container contents over time.