Title: Ontology-driven approach towards domain-specific system design

Authors: Shreya Banerjee; Anirban Sarkar

Addresses: Department of Computer Applications, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, Durgapur, India ' Department of Computer Applications, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, Durgapur, India

Abstract: In practice, domain-specific modelling is intended for improved conceptualisation of a specific domain. Further, distinct parts of a large software system are modelled by different domain-specific modelling languages. This approach sometimes leads to the problem of poor semantics, interoperability and reusability of domain model concepts. However, ontology aids in common understanding of domain conceptualisation by providing enriched semantics. To address these issues, this paper proposes an upper level ontology called Generalised Ontology Modelling (GOM) which aims to facilitate formal realisation of crucial software design aspects such as structural, functional, behavioural and also evolving domain knowledge. In addition, to show the expressiveness of the proposed ontology, a domain-specific ontology for Reference Information Model (RIM) of Health Level 7 (HL7) standard is derived from GOM. Besides, the paper includes verification of several useful properties of the proposed GOM. Moreover, a detailed comparative analysis has been provided towards evaluation of the proposed GOM.

Keywords: domain-specific ontology; upper level ontology; domain independent ontology; domain-specific modelling; ontology modelling; meta-metamodelling; functional design semantics; behavioural design semantics; structural design semantics; domain-specific system design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMSO.2016.078110

International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 2016 Vol.11 No.1, pp.39 - 60

Received: 29 Sep 2015
Accepted: 08 Apr 2016
Published online: 02 Aug 2016 *

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