A small taxonomy in the communication domain

Section 1 shows "the start of an ontology in the telecommunication domain" that was sent to me in 1999. Its formalization and insertion in the knowledge base (KB) of WebKB-2 involved four aspects:

Section 2 shows the result. To ease the comparison with the original taxonomy, click here to see Section 2 in a new window.

The representations are in the courier font. In Section 2 they are enclosed within the XHTML marks <KR> and </KR> to permit WebKB-2 to distinguish them from regular text. This file has already been parsed by WebKB-2 and its statements are in the KB. Click here to see a hierarchy of the subtypes of comms#comms_object from which you can navigate to other categories.



1.  The source taxonomy

Telecommunications
  Telecommunications technology
      ATM (asynchronous transfer mode)
      Frame Relay
      GSM (group special mobile, global system mobile, cellular, mobile phone, pcs)
      VPN (virtual private network, private network)
      CTI (computer telephony integration)
      ISDN (integrated services digital network)
      SS7 (signaling system 7, signaling system,ccs7, common channel signal)
      IBDN (integrated building distribution network)
      DSL (digital subscriber line, HDSL, VDSL)
      ADSL (asynchronous subscriber line, assymetric digital subscriber line)
      SONET (SDH)

   Network Management - manages communications network
      TMN (telecommunication management network)
      Network management protocol
         Cmip (common management information protocol)
         Smtp (simple mail transfer protocol, simple network management protocol)
      Traffic management (even though these concepts exist under network technology -
                          they also have software to manage traffic 
         ADSL (asynchronous subscriber line, assymetric digital subscriber line)
         ATM (asynchronous transfer mode)
         Frame Relay
         ISDN (integrated services digital network)
         SS7 (signaling system 7, signaling system, ccs7, common channel signal)
         DSL (digital subscriber line, HDSL, VDSL)
         SONET (SDH)
   Transmission Medium
      WDM (wave length division multiplexing)
      Fibre (fibre, optics, fibre cable, optic cable)
      Microwave (mw link, mw connect)
      Cable (copper cable, twisted pair, buried cable, cable load)
      Satellite (earth terminal, earth station, ground terminal, ground station,uplink, downlink)
         VSAT
      Wireless
      Broadband (broadband network, broadband communication, broadband channel)
   Switching
      Toll switch
      Central office (office switch, co switch, digital switch, telephon* office, switch office,
                      central office code)
      Router (bridge, gateway)
      Tandem (tandem switch, tandem office)
      PBX (public branch exchange
      International gateway (international switch, gateway switch, gateway)



2.  The representation of the taxonomy

comms#comms_object (^top concept type in the comms ontology^)
 < pm#Domain_object,
 > comms#network_object  comms#telecom_object  comms#switching_object comms#transmission_object,
 O #telecommunication_domain; //'O' means "object of"

   comms#network_object
    > comms#TMN  comms#CMIP  comms#SMTP  comms#traffic_object;

      comms#TMN (^telecommunication management network^) < #network;
      comms#CMIP (^common management information protocol^) < #communications_protocol;
      comms#SMTP (^simple mail transfer protocol^) < #communications_protocol;

      comms#traffic_object
       > comms#telecom_and_traffic_object;

         comms#telecom_and_traffic_object
          > #asynchronous_transfer_mode  comms#frame_relay  comms#ISDN
            comms#subscriber_line;

            comms#frame_relay < #electrical_relay; //subtype of #electronic_device
            comms#ISDN (^integrated services digital network^);

            comms#subscriber_line < #electronic_device,
             > comms#ADSL  comms#DSL;

               comms#ADSL (^asynchronous subscriber line, assymetric digital subscriber line^);
               comms#DSL (^digital subscriber line, HDSL, VDSL^);

   comms#telecom_object
    > comms#telecom_and_traffic_object  comms#telecom_network_object;

      comms#telecom_network_object < #network,
       > comms#VPN  comms#IBDN  comms#CTI  comms#GSM  comms#SS7  comms#SONET;

         comms#VPN (^(virtual) private network^);
         comms#IBDN (^integrated building distribution network^);
         comms#CTI (^computer telephony integration^);
         comms#GSM (^group special mobile, global system mobile, cellular, mobile phone, pcs^);
         comms#SS7 (^signaling system, ccs7, common channel signal^);
         comms#SONET (^SDH^);

   comms#transmission_object
    > comms#WDM  #transmission_line  #artificial_satellite
      #microwave //incorrect modeling if "Microwave" meant "object emitting microwaves"
      comms#wireless_network  comms#broadband_network;

      comms#WDM (^wave length division multiplexer^) < #multiplexer;
      comms#wireless_network < #network;
      comms#broadband_network < #network;
      comms#VSAT < #artificial_satellite;

   comms#switching_object < #switch,
    > comms#toll_switch  comms#office_switch  comms#tandem_switch  comms#router
      comms#PBX  comms#international_gateway;

      comms#PBX (^public branch exchange^);
      comms#international_gateway (^international switch^);




Philippe A. MARTIN