KBSI is addressing this problem by designing and developing an Ontology Driven Integration Framework (ODIF). The aim of the project is to establish a common ontology for integrating diverse data sources. The ODIF will combine knowledge extraction techniques with ontology analysis methods to extract knowledge from distributed, unstructured text sources. This is the first step in facilitating the sharing of this knowledge among project teams for space launch and range applications.

ODIF will significantly improve the cost, speed, and effectiveness of extracting and integrating knowledge from distributed, unstructured data sources and of sharing that knowledge distributed teams. The immediate application for ODIF will be to facilitate semantic information sharing and knowledge management for space launch and range applications. But ODIF also has a number of possible commercial uses, particularly for large distributed organizations who perform knowledge management, collaborative planning and scheduling, supply chain management, or business intelligence.

In the space industry, the value of effectively sharing and integrating information among the many organizations is recognized and systems can be electronically connected, but technical barriers do exist. Every organization involved uses a different approach for identifying, describing, and organizing the same types of information resulting in different semantics and classifications. To alleviate this problem, KBSI has been tasked to establish a common ontology as a reference for integrating the diverse data sources in a SBIR project entitled Ontology Driven Integration Framework (ODIF).

In this project, KBSI will design an ODIF that will combine knowledge extraction techniques with ontology analysis methods to extract knowledge from distributed, unstructured text sources and facilitate the integration and sharing of its knowledge for space launch and range applications.

With the advent of the ODIF, the space industry will see significant reductions in time and effort needed for extracting and integrating knowledge from distributed, unstructured data sources as well as significant reductions in the time and effort needed to facilitate knowledge sharing, communication, and semantic integration.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. ARMY SPACE & MISSLE DEFENSE COMMAND under Contract No. W9113M-05-C-0169.  Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. ARMY SPACE & MISSLE DEFENSE COMMAND.