A Survey of Top-Level Ontologies - to inform the ontological choices for a Foundation Data Model

The Centre for Digital Built Britain has been tasked through the Digital Framework Task Group to develop an Information Management Framework (IMF) to support the development of a National Digital Twin (NDT) as set out in “The Pathway to an Information Management Framework” (Hetherington, 2020). A key component of the IMF is a Foundation Data Model (FDM), built upon a top-level ontology (TLO), as a basis for ensuring consistent data across the NDT. This document captures the results collected from a broad survey of top-level ontologies, conducted by the IMF technical team. It focuses on the core ontological choices made in their foundations and the pragmatic engineering consequences these have on how the ontologies can be applied and further scaled. This document will provide the basis for discussions on a suitable TLO for the FDM. It is also expected that these top-level ontologies will provide a resource whose components can be harvested and adapted for inclusion in the FDM

An Introduction to Ontology

Analytical philosophy of the last one hundred years has been heavily influenced by a doctrine to the effect that one can arrive at a correct ontology by paying attention to certain superficial (syntactic) features of first-order predicate logic as conceived by Frege and Russell. More specifically, it is a doctrine to the effect that the key to the ontological structure of reality is captured syntactically in the ‘Fa’ (or, in more sophisticated versions, in the ‘Rab’) of first-order logic, where ‘F’ stands for what is general in reality and ‘a’ for what is individual. Hence “f(a)ntology”. Because predicate logic has exactly two syntactically different kinds of referring expressions—‘F’, ‘G’, ‘R’, etc., and ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc.—so reality must consist of exactly two correspondingly different kinds of entity: the general (properties, concepts) and the particular (things, objects), the relation between these two kinds of entity being revealed in the predicate-argument structure of atomic formulas in first-order logic

Mechanical testing ontology for digital-twins: A roadmap based on EMMO

The enormous amount of materials data currently generated by high throughput experiments and computations poses a significant challenge in terms of data integration and sharing. A common ontology lays the foundation for solving this issue, enabling semantic interoperability of models, experiments, software and data which is vital for a more rational and efficient development of novel materials. This paper is based on the current efforts by the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC) on establishing common standards for materials through the European Materials & Modelling Ontology (EMMO) and demonstrates the application of EMMO to the mechanical testing field. The focus of this paper is to outline the approach to develop EMMO compliant domain ontologies

Ontological foundations for structural conceptual models

In this thesis, we aim at contributing to the theory of conceptual modeling and ontology representation. Our main objective here is to provide ontological foundations for the most fundamental concepts in conceptual modeling. These foundations comprise a number of ontological theories, which are built on established work on philosophical ontology, cognitive psychology, philosophy of language and linguistics. Together these theories amount to a system of categories and formal relations known as a foundational ontolog

The computer program as a functional whole

Sharing, downloading, and reusing software is common-place, some of which is carried out legally with open source software. When it is not legal, it is unclear how many infringements have taken place: does an infringement count for the artefact as a whole or for each source file of a computer program? To answer this question, it must first be established whether a computer program should be considered as an integral whole, a collection, or a mere set of distinct files, and why. We argue that a program is a functional whole, availing of, and combining, arguments from mereology, granularity, modularity, unity, and function to substantiate the claim. The argumentation and answer contributes to the ontology of software artefacts, may assist industry in litigation cases, and demonstrates that the notion of unifying relation is operationalisable

Digital twins for performance management in the built environment

Recent events worldwide of climate and geological origins highlight the vulnerability of our infrastructures and stress the often dramatic consequences on our environment. Accurate digital models are needed to understand how climate change and associated risks affect buildings, while informing on ways of enhancing their adaptability and resilience. This requires a paradigm shift in design and engineering interventions as the potential for adaptation and resilience should be embedded into initial brief formulation, design, engineering, construction and facility maintenance methods. This paper argues the need for smarter and digital interventions for buildings and infrastructures and their underpinning data systems that factor in topology (including geometry), mereology, and behavioural (dynamic) considerations. Digital models can be used as a basis to understand the complex interplay between environmental variables and performance, and explore real-time response strategies (including control and actuation) to known and uncertain solicitations enabled by a new generation of technologies. The paper proposes a digital twin model for the construction and industrial assets that paves the way to a new generation of buildings and infrastructures that (a) address lifetime requirements, (b) are capable of performing optimally within the constraints of unknown future scenarios, and (c) achieve acceptable levels of adaptability, efficiency and resilience

An Axiomatic Categorisation Framework for the Dynamic Alignment of Disparate Functions in Cyber-Physical Systems

YesAdvancing Industry 4.0 concepts by mapping the product of the automotive industry on the spectrum of Cyber Physical Systems, we immediately recognise the convoluted processes involved in the design of new generation vehicles. New technologies developed around the communication core (IoT) enable novel interactions with data. Our framework employs previously untapped data from vehicles in the field for intelligent vehicle health management and knowledge integration into design. Firstly, the concept of an inter-disciplinary artefact is introduced to support the dynamic alignment of disparate functions, so that cyber variables change when physical variables change. Secondly, the axiomatic categorisation (AC) framework simulates functional transformations from artefact to artefact, to monitor and control automotive systems rather than components. Herein, an artefact is defined as a triad of the physical and engineered component, the information processing entity, and communication devices at their interface. Variable changes are modelled using AC, in conjunction with the artefacts, to aggregate functional transformations within the conceptual boundary of a physical system of systems.Jaguar Land Rover funded research “Intelligent Personalised Powertrain Healthcare” 2016-201