Semantic Framework for Free-Form Search of Grid Resources

The model of free-form queries has been an enormous success for HTML-based search engines on the web. If the same free-form search is made available for grid services, it will serve as a powerful tool for scientists to retrieve information on resources, monitoring data, replica location sets, and meta-data on scientific data sets, in an intuitive manner. Current implementations of XML-based grid service descriptions require end users to have intimate knowledge of service descriptions, related toolkits, and query languages. We have developed a system that abstracts away these fundamental complexities and provides a simple free-form query based scientific discovery system for grid users. In this paper, we present the design and initial implementation results of our ontological framework that employs matching algorithms, automated extension of ontologies, and semantic Web and ontological concepts to match free-form queries with corresponding grid resource information stored in RDF/OWL format.