Interoperation, Mediation and Composition of Engineering Services

摘要本研究的目的在于挖掘资讯通讯科技（ICT）的潜力，并解决工程服务的互操作与整合问题。根据美国国家标准与技术研究所（NIST）的报告，信息和服务互操作性的缺乏给制造业和建筑业带来了巨大的经济成本。随着互联网和先进通信技术的普及，信息的交换基本上是自由和即时的。然而，为了支持软件应用程序之间有意义的信息交换，并使它们协同工作以解决复杂的业务问题，软件应用程序必须能够相互传递和理解语义。当前互操作性标准的开发，尽管它们确实提供了狭窄定义领域内工具之间的通信手段，但并没有解决供应链中复杂的互操作性问题，这通常涉及跨多个学科的信息和服务集成。本研究项目旨在通过开发(1)一种正式的、可扩展的知识组合方法来识别和解决标准之间的语义相似性和差异性，从而允许有意义的跨学科数据交换来解决这一基本问题；(2)一个能够支持松散耦合、分布式的基于web的服务集成的软件框架。将发展信息科学和建筑工程的基本方法，以解决阻碍供应链参与者之间有效信息共享的复杂信息问题，并开发基于网络的服务基础设施，以增强在线应用程序的集成。全球化是制造业和建筑业的主要趋势。有效和高效的供应链管理对全球市场和伙伴关系至关重要。参与供应链的公司内部和公司之间的信息流的协调和集成对任何资本开发项目的成功都至关重要。这项研究将对制造业和建筑业产生广泛的经济影响，因为在这项研究中开发的工具将使信息和软件应用程序在整个供应链中共享，独立于地理位置，并贯穿整个项目生命周期的开发过程。这项研究将有助于创新资讯及通讯科技的方法和应用，以及提高本港民用基建的设计、建造、维修和营运的生产力。为了实现研究目标，研究人员将与美国国家标准与技术研究所（NIST）的研究人员以及国际学者密切合作。与NIST的合作将有助于为建筑和制造业定义未来的数据和软件标准。与国际研究人员合作将有助于在全球传播和确保研究结果的有用性。最后但并非最不重要的是，这项研究是计算机科学和工程学之间的跨学科努力。这种跨学科的努力将为教育未来的计算机科学家和工程师提供机会，使他们更好地理解与信息和通信技术以及工程和建筑行业相关的问题。

Project AbstractThe objective of this research is to exploit the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) and to address the issues of interoperation and integration of engineering services. As reported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the lack of information and service interoperability poses a major economic cost in both the manufacturing and the construction industries. With the proliferation of the Internet and advanced communication technologies, the exchange of information is essentially free and instantaneous. However, in order to support meaningful exchange of information among software applications and to bring them working together to solve complex, business problems, the software applications must be able to convey and understand the semantics among each other. Current developments of interoperability standards, although they do provide the means of communication among the tools within a narrowly defined domain, do not resolve the complex interoperability issues in a supply chain, which typically involves information and service integration across multiple disciplines. This research project aims to address this fundamental problem by developing (1) a formal, scalable knowledge composition approach to identify and resolve the semantic similarities and differences among the standards, thus allowing meaningful data exchange across disciplines; and (2) a software framework that can support integration of loosely coupled, distributed web-based services. Fundamental methodologies in information science and construction engineering will be developed to resolve the complex information issues that hinder effective information sharing among the participants in a supply chain and to develop a web-based service infrastructure that would enhance the integration of online applications. Globalization is a major trend in the manufacturing and the construction industries. Effective and efficient supply chain management is vital to the global market and partnerships. The coordination and integration of the information flows within and across companies participating in the supply chain are critical to the success of any capital development projects. This research will have broad economic impact in manufacturing and construction, in that the tools developed in this research will enable information and software applications shared among the entire supply chain, independent of geographical locations, and throughout an entire project lifecycle development process. This research will contribute to new methodologies and innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and to enhance the productivity in the design, construction, maintenance and operation of our civil infrastructure. To achieve the research objective, the investigators will collaborate closely with researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as well as international scholars. The collaboration with NIST will help define future data and software standards for the construction and manufacturing industry. Working with international researchers will help dissemination and ensure usefulness of the research results globally. Last but not least, this research is an interdisciplinary effort between Computer Science and Engineering. This interdisciplinary effort will provide opportunities to educate future computer scientists and engineers to have better understanding of issues related to ICT and the engineering and construction industry.