A Situation-Aware Middleware Based on Ontology Modeling and Rule

Currently, although logistics systems are based mostly on the barcode system and partly on radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, they still depend on humans checking or validating products. Situation-awareness technologies can operate similarly to humans. We suggest a middleware system based on an ontology using situation-awareness technologies for logistics. The middleware is aware of the current user state and sends the required data to an application. It can help build new applications by enhancing speed and can support automated service processing by invoking the service required in the next working step. Situation-awareness technologies provide data or service appropriate to the object´s current state and allow human participation to be minimized. Moreover, they can automatically execute working processes without human intervention. Improving process automation of logistics systems with situation-awareness technologies reduces labor requirements for checking and validating objects and thus saves logistics costs.