Objectives Providing a framework by which the information integration engine can access heterogeneous data sources in a homogeneous way, where available research results in the area of heterogeneous data management should be exploited.

Description of work TASK 1: Specification of heterogeneous data source types to be integrated. (Task Leader TUWIEN) A suite of different types of data sources, including relational, object-based and semi-structured data types, will be defined that should be managed by the framework. TASK 2: Specification of methods and techniques for data acquisition and transformation. (Task Leader TUWIEN) Describe methods for homogeneous access to data in the formats defined in Task 1, and select and adapt available research results for their realization from the fields of information integration and agent technology. Explore furthermore the usage of methods and techniques for information extraction from implicit representation in this framework.

Deliverables D6.1- Heterogeneous data source type description (Report). A report which contains the various data type specifications which should be handled by the data acquisition and transformation framework. D6.2- Methods for data acquisition and transformation (Report). A report containing transformations of the handled data types to the format of the internal integration formalism, and methods for low-level data access.

Milestones and expected results The expected result of this work package is the outline of a framework for engineering the “low level” access to data in different information sources, which will be used for the design and implementation of the Data Acquisition and Transformation Layer of the INFOMIX prototype.