Methodology for the efficient distribution a manufacturing ontology to a multiagent system utilizing a relevant Meta-Ontology

The manufacturing environment is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity. The seamless integration of MES and Shop-Floor layers poses a significant challenge. Industrial manufacturing ontologies provide the necessary semantics for such and integration. A gap nevertheless exists between the industrial ontology semantics and the behaviour and activity model utilized by a multi-agent system that implements the MES layer. Work presented in this paper presents a way to close this gap through the enforcement of a sound methodology utilizing an appropriate meta-ontology. The applicability of the methodology is evaluated against a Multi-Agent System paradigm modeled according to the GAIA methodology.