An ontology framework for intelligent sensor-based building monitoring

Contemporary building management is highly complex. Real time building information collected from various sensors needs to be managed smartly and promptly, and the corresponding software system ideally should have enough intelligence to consume these inter-connected and domain oriented information in an autonomous way. This paper focusses on the ontology development process to deliver an intelligent multi-agent software framework (OntoFM) supporting real time building monitoring. Different ontology development methodologies and frameworks have been reviewed. These have informed the development of a building monitoring ontology framework and its underpinning ontologies (sensor ontology, building ontology, and other supporting ontologies). The resulting ontologies have been tested and validated following a two-staged approach. The development renders a system that delivers demonstrable rationality and robustness within the dynamic environment in which it operates. The capture of semantics through formal expression to model the environment adds a richness that the agents exploit to intelligently determine behaviours to satisfy goals that are flexible and adaptable. The developed building monitoring software framework has been deployed in several locations for testing purposes, and demonstrates the potential for larger scale deployments.