Ontology-based exchange of product data semantics

An increasing trend toward product development in a collaborative environment has resulted in the use of various software tools to enhance the product design. This requires a meaningful representation and exchange of product data semantics across different application domains. This paper proposes an ontology-based framework to enable such semantic interoperability. A standards-based approach is used to develop a Product Semantic Representation Language (PSRL). Formal description logic (DAML+OIL) is used to encode the PSRL. Mathematical logic and corresponding reasoning is used to determine semantic equivalences between an application ontology and the PSRL. The semantic equivalence matrix enables resolution of ambiguities created due to differences in syntaxes and meanings associated with terminologies in different application domains. Successful semantic interoperability will form the basis of seamless communication and thereby enable better integration of product development systems. Note to Practitioners-Semantic interoperability of product information refers to automating the exchange of meaning associated with the data, among information resources throughout the product development. This research is motivated by the problems in enabling such semantic interoperability. First, product information is formalized into an explicit, extensible, and comprehensive product semantics representation language (PSRL). The PSRL is open and based on standard W3C constructs. Next, in order to enable semantic translation, the paper describes a procedure to semi-automatically determine mappings between exactly equivalent concepts across representations of the interacting applications. The paper demonstrates that this approach to translation is feasible, but it has not yet been implemented commercially. Current limitations and the directions for further research are discussed. Future research addresses the determination of semantic similarities (not exact equivalences) between the interacting information resources.