Army seeks common core ontologies - key to global C4ISR interoperability data fusion

Army CERDEC I2WD issues common core ontologies RFI

A--Market Survey for Further Development and Implementations of Common Core Ontologies
Sources are sought for Further Development and Implementations of Common Core Ontologies, to include

• knowledge discovery and dissemination,
• federated search,
• data alignment,
• dataset mapping,
• fusion,
• real-time fusion,
• data aggregation,
• architecture,
• SPARQL queries, 
• Application Programmer Interface (API), 
• cloud computing, 
• collaboration tools, 
• standard user profile, 
• rules engine, 
• sensor selection and tasking, 
• analytics, 
• controlled meta-data and vocabularies, 
•  data modeling, 
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) alignment, 
• ontology extensions and conformance, 
• semantic message brokering, and metrics. 

Proposed solutions shall comply/conform with the following specifications:

• Web Ontology Language (OWL) 2.0
• Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
• Common Core Ontologies v0.8

Vendors may submit information on solutions that do not comply with all of the above areas as long as a major redesign of them is not required. All deficiencies should be noted with the level of effort required to correct the non-compliant item(s).

The proposed acquisition is for Further Development and Implementations of Common Core Ontologies with a one-year base period and four twelve-month option periods of performance. The total estimated maximum level of effort is 600,000 man hours.

Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought (.docx)

28 KB

06/04/2015

Related/Background:

Ontology Reasoning for the Semantic Web and Its Application to Knowle…

JOINT BATTLE MANAGEMENT COMMAND AND CONTROL (JBMC2) Version 1.0 22 April 2004 ROADMAP.pdf

Central to the transformation of U.S. Forces are development and fielding of integrated Joint Battle Management Command and Control (JBMC2) capabilities to enable U.S. forces to collaboratively plan and rapidly share an accurate picture of the battlespace. This Roadmap provides an overview of JBMC2 capability and Global Information Grid (GIG) development efforts in the Department of Defense. It is intended to assist policymakers and decision-makers in aligning and integrating JBMC2 integration initiatives with service doctrine, concept development and acquisition efforts. The goal of this Roadmap is to provide a coherent and executable plan for fielding integrated JBMC2 capabilities to U.S. Forces

Developing a core ontology to improve military intelligence analysis - document

Ontologies by VIStology, Inc.

Ontologies

One of VIStology's core capabilities is the design and development of formal ontologies in RDF, DAML, OWL and SWRL. The ontologies we develop are primarily for use in the areas of situation awareness and data fusion. Some of these ontologies are published for use by the Data Fusion and Semantic Web user communities.

JC3IEM OWL Ontology

The Joint Command, Control and Communication Information Exchange Data Model (JC3IEDM) is being developed by the NATO-sponsored Multilateral Interoperability Programme (MIP) for the purpose of facilitating the exchange of command, control and communication information among coalition forces. VIStology has developed a set of transformations to automatically translate the evolving JC3IEDM ERWIN specification into an OWL ontology comprising over 7900 elements (OWL classes, properties and their instances). The JC3IEDM OWL ontology along with a readme file are available here: JC3IEDM3.1a. For more information on the methodology behind the translation of JC3IEDM into OWL, please download our 2007 ICCRTS article.

JC3IEDM-Overview-3.1.4.pdf

How to Make an Effective Information Exchange Data Model or The Good and Bad Aspects of the NATO JC3IEDM..
www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA469736
by E Lasschuyt - ‎2004 - ‎Cited by 1 - ‎Related articles

Abstract : Coalition-wide interoperability implies, among other things, that a large amount of C4I systems are able to seamlessly exchange information. A bare necessity for this is to have common exchange languages that unambiguously define the information which is shared among the coalition parties. Information Exchange Data Models (IEDMs) are used for that. But developing an IEDM is a difficult process. The resulting model is often very big and complex, which makes it hard to comprehend and implement. This paper discusses a set of guidelines which help to make better IEDMs. The Joint C3 IEDM from MIP and NDAG is used as a case, being the most mature model of its kind in the NATO C3 environment.

 With respect to information management, large organisations suffer similar problems nowadays. Many heterogeneous information systems support the business processes. Their diversity is among other things manifested by differences in:

• functionality, related to the purpose of systems and to their user groups;
• the kind and format of the information being managed by the systems;
• platforms, including hardware, operating systems and (COTS) applications.

The ‘natural history’ of information management within organisations has lead to a situation where most of their systems have become ‘stove pipes’, working independently from each other. There is, however, an increasing need for global interoperability among these information systems, both organisation-internally and between different  organisations. Connecting systems at information level is generally advantageous
on two aspects:

• effectiveness, for example in terms of increased situational awareness (more accurate and actual knowledge about what’s happening at any level of an organisation) or  derivation of new knowledge by combining information;
• efficiency, for example by sharing information among systems (and users) which is already present in some system.

The more collaboration there is between departments and with external organisations, the more need there will be to make information systems interoperable.

towards_core.pdf