Semantically enabling the SEMAT project: Extending marine sensor networks for decision support and hypothesis testing

The SEMAT project is a multi-institution/multi-discipline program developing advanced wireless sensor networks to collect, store, process and interpret data in coastal systems. The marine environment, specifically coral reefs within the Great Barrier Reef, is one of the initial deployments for a prototype SEMAT network. Wireless sensor networks are being deployed to extract environmental data for research into environmental issues such as climate change, water quality and ecosystem health. Remote monitoring networks in remote marine locations are logistically challenging. However, the interpretation of the complex multidimensional data generated is a problem of at least equal complexity. Application of the semantic tools and methods developed in the Semantic Reef project are being mapped onto the SEMAT use-cases with the goal to develop a data model capable of complex inference, as well as conventional data storage and analysis.