Transformation of SysML Requirement Diagram into OWL Ontologies

The Requirement Diagrams are used by the System Modeling Language (SysML) to depict and model non-functional requirements, such as response time, size, or system functionality, which cannot be accommodated in the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Nevertheless, SysML still lacks the capability to represent the semantic contexts within the design. Web Ontology Language (OWL) can be used to capture the semantic context of system design; hence, the transformation of SysML diagrams into OWL is needed. The current method of SysML Diagrams transformation into OWL is still done manually so that it is very vulnerable to errors, and the translation process requires more time and effort for system engineers. This research proposes a model that can automatically transform a SysML Requirement Diagram into an OWL file so that system designs can be easily understood by both humans and machines. It also allows users to extract knowledge contained in the previous diagrams. The transformation process makes use of a transformation rule and an algorithm that can be used to change a SysML Requirement Diagram into an OWL ontology file. XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) serialization is used as the bridge to perform the transformation. The produced ontology can be viewed in Protege. The class and subclass hierarchy, as well as the object properties and data properties, are clearly shown. In the experiment, it is also shown that the model can conduct the transformation correctly.