User-guided transformations for ontology based simulation design

Using domain knowledge represented as ontologies for the design of domain specific architectures is a promising approach for better reusability. Tool support is essential for this approach to be effective. We present a flexible, user- guided transformation method to generate a framework architecture model from a domain model. The latter is in the form of an OWL ontology, and the former is in the form of a UML class diagram. We introduce a transformation tool that allows the user to configure mappings from the source OWL constructs of the simulation ontology to the target UML constructs of the simulation design. This user-guided approach is demonstrated on a case study that involves building a framework architecture for ontology-driven trajectory simulation development. © 2009 Simulation councils, inc