The KRAFT Architecture for Knowledge Fusion and Transformation

This paper describes the KRAFT architecture which supports the fusion of knowledge from multiple, distributed, heterogeneous sources. The architecture uses constraints as a common knowledge interchange format, expressed against a common ontology. Knowledge held in local sources can be tranformed into the common constraint language, and fused with knowledge from other sources. The fused knowledge is then used to solve some problem or deliver some information to a user. Problem-solving in KRAFT typically exploits pre-existing constraint solvers. KRAFT uses an open and flexible agent architecture in which knowledge sources, knowledge fusing entities, and users are all represented by independent KRAFT agents, communicating using a messaging protocol. Facilitator agents perform matchmaking and brokerage services between the various kinds of agent. KRAFT i