Requirements Ontology (ReqOn) is a formal ontology aimed at representation of engineering requirements generated during the requirement planning phase when design concepts are not conceived yet. Due to its formal semantics, ReqOn is amenable to automated reasoning and machine processing. Therefore, it could be used for automation of requirement management. A linguistic and grammatical approach is adopted for ontology conceptualization. Accordingly, parts of speech (verbs and nouns) and grammatical functions (subject, object, complement, and adjuncts) define the core classes of the ontology. The scope of ReqOn is currently limited to consumer products with medium complexity. However, the core classes of ReqOn are designed such that it can be evolved into a comprehensive requirements ontology that covers a wider range of artifacts . Web Ontology Language (OWL) is used as the ontology language of ReqOn.

Publication: Alolika Mukhopadhyay, Farhad Ameri, An Ontological Approach to Engineering Requirements Representation and Analysis , Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis & Manufacturing (AIEDAM), Special issue: Engineering Design Informatics, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 30, No.4, pp. 337-352 November 2016  (more …).