An Ontology Based Approach for Requirement Inconsistency Detection

Abstract

This paper describes the approach to use ontologies developed for use in Semantic Web technology in checking the consistency of requirements specifications. Our focus area is use of reasoning which the distinguishing feature of OWL that separates it from other knowledge representation class of languages a part of ontology. In the first step, we transform the classes and properties (static) of UML model and its constraints into problem ontology and point out contradictions using ontology reasoning. The contradictions that have been found indicate inconsistencies. In the second step, we try to find mismatch between the problem ontology coming from the UML model that represents the requirements, and the domain ontology, that represents the domain knowledge available on web. However, a limitation of this approach is that only the static part of model is checked and the dynamic part cannot be represented in ontology. Keywords: Consistency, Checking, Ontology, Reasoning

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