The configuration of design and manufacture knowledge models from a heavyweight ontological foundation

Problems related to knowledge sharing in design and manufacture, for supporting automated decision-making procedures, are associated with the inability to communicate the full meaning of concepts and their intent within and across system boundaries. To remedy these issues, it is important that the explicit structuring of semantics, i.e., meaning in computation form, is first performed and that these semantics become sharable across systems. This paper proposes an expressive (heavyweight) Common Logic-based ontological foundation as a basis for capturing the meaning of generic feature-oriented design and manufacture concepts. This ontological foundation serves as a semantic ground over which design and manufacture knowledge models can be configured in an integrity-driven way. The implications involved in the specification of the ontological foundation are discussed alongside the types of mechanisms that allow knowledge models to be configured. A test case scenario is then analysed in order to further support and verify the researched approach

Active Ontology: An Information Integration Approach for Dynamic Information Sources

In this paper we describe an ontology-based information integration approach that is suitable for highly dynamic distributed information sources, such as those available in Grid systems. The main challenges addressed are: 1) information changes frequently and information requests have to be answered quickly in order to provide up-to-date information; and 2) the most suitable information sources have to be selected from a set of different distributed ones that can provide the information needed. To deal with the first challenge we use an information cache that works with an update-on-demand policy. To deal with the second we add an information source selection step to the usual architecture used for ontology-based information integration. To illustrate our approach, we have developed an information service that aggregates metadata available in hundreds of information services of the EGEE Grid infrastructure

Interaction protocols for cross-organisational workflows

Workflow technologies are widely used in industry and commerce to assist in the specification, execution and completion of well defined processes within organisations. As industrial and commercial relations have evolved, based on advances on information and communications technologies, cross-organisational workflow integration has become an important issue. Since organisations can have very different workflows, the creation of compatible workflows so that organisations can collaborate and/or carry out mutual transactions automatically in an integrated fashion can be a very complex and time consuming process. As a consequence, the development of technologies to support the creation and execution of compatible workflows is a most relevant issue. In the present article we introduce the JamSession coordination platform as a tool to implement cross-organisational workflow integration. JamSession is declarative and based on algebraic specification methods, and therefore workflow integration implemented using this platform can profit from formal behavioural analysis, based on which desired features and properties can be verified and/or obtained

A Service-Oriented Approach for Network-Centric Data Integration and Its Application to Maritime Surveillance

Maritime-surveillance operators still demand for an integrated maritime picture better supporting international coordination for their operations, as looked for in the European area. In this area, many data-integration efforts have been interpreted in the past as the problem of designing, building and maintaining huge centralized repositories. Current research activities are instead leveraging service-oriented principles to achieve more flexible and network-centric solutions to systems and data integration. In this direction, this article reports on the design of a SOA platform, the Service and Application Integration (SAI) system, targeting novel approaches for legacy data and systems integration in the maritime surveillance domain. We have developed a proof-of-concept of the main system capabilities to assess feasibility of our approach and to evaluate how the SAI middleware architecture can fit application requirements for dynamic data search, aggregation and delivery in the distributed maritime domain

A framework to support semantic interoperability in product design and manufacture

It has been recognised that the ability to communicate the meaning of concepts and their intent within and across system boundaries, for supporting key decisions in product design and manufacture, is impaired by the semantic interoperability issues that are presently encountered. This work contributes to the field of semantic interoperability in product design and manufacture. An attribution is made to the understanding and application of relevant concepts coming from the computer science world, notably ontology-based approaches, to help resolve semantic interoperability problems. A novel ontological approach, identified as the Semantic Manufacturing Interoperability Framework (SMIF), has been proposed following an exploration of the important requirements to be satisfied. The framework, built on top of a Common Logic-based ontological formalism, consists of a manufacturing foundation to capture the semantics of core feature-based design and manufacture concepts, over which the specialisation of domain models can take place. Furthermore, the framework supports the mechanisms for allowing the reconciliation of semantics, thereby improving the knowledge sharing capability between heterogeneous domains that need to interoperate and have been based on the same manufacturing foundation. This work also analyses a number of test case scenarios, where the framework has been deployed for fostering knowledge representation and reconciliation of models involving products with standard hole features and their related machining process sequences. The test cases have shown that the Semantic Manufacturing Interoperability Framework (SMIF) provides effective support towards achieving semantic interoperability in product design and manufacture. Proposed extensions to the framework are additionally identified so as to provide a view on imminent future work.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Verification of knowledge shared across design and manufacture using a foundation ontology

Seamless computer-based knowledge sharing between departments of a manufacturing enterprise is useful in preventing unnecessary design revisions. A lack of interoperability between independently developed knowledge bases, however, is a major impediment in the development of a seamless knowledge sharing system. Interoperability, being an ability to overcome semantic and syntactic differences during computer-based knowledge sharing can be enhanced through the use of ontologies. Ontologies in computer science terms are hierarchical structures of knowledge stored in a computer-based knowledge base. Ontologies have been accepted by all as an interoperable medium to provide a non-subjective way of storing and sharing knowledge across diverse domains. Some semantic and syntactic differences, however, still crop up when these ontological knowledge bases are developed independently. A case study in an aerospace components manufacturing company suggests that shape features of a component are perceived differently by the designing and manufacturing departments. These differences cause further misunderstanding and misinterpretation when computer-based knowledge sharing systems are used across the two domains. Foundation or core ontologies can be used to overcome these differences and to ensure a seamless sharing of knowledge. This is because these ontologies provide a common grounding for domain ontologies to be used by individual domains or department. This common grounding can be used by the mediation and knowledge verification systems to authenticate the meaning of knowledge understood across different domains. For this reason, this research proposes a knowledge verification framework for developing a system capable of verifying knowledge between those domain ontologies which are developed out of a common core or foundation ontology. This framework makes use of ontology logic to standardize the way concepts from a foundation and core-concepts ontology are used in domain ontologies and then by using the same principles the knowledge being shared is verified. The Knowledge Frame Language which is based on Common Logic is used for formalizing example ontologies. The ontology editor used for browsing and querying ontologies is the Integrated Ontology Development Environment (IODE) by Highfleet Inc. An ontological product modelling technique is also developed in this research, to test the proposed framework in the scenario of manufacturability analysis. The proposed framework is then validated through a Java API specially developed for this purpose. Real industrial examples experienced during the case study are used for validation