Sigma knowledge engineering environment
| Company type | Open source software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Knowledge engineering, Ontology development |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | SigmaKEE, theorem prover integration (Vampire, E) |
| Website | sigmakee |
In the domains of knowledge engineering and ontology, the Sigma knowledge engineering environment (SigmaKEE) stands as an open source framework tailored for the construction of formal ontologies, with a primary focus on the Suggested Upper Merged Ontology. Originally built around the Vampire theorem prover, it has since expanded to accommodate various provers from the CASC and CADE series.
Overview
Serving as an integrated development environment dedicated to ontology development, SigmaKEE allows users to author theoretical content within a text editor and utilize its debugging utilities for error resolution.
Implemented in Java and featuring a web-based interface powered by JSP, SigmaKEE processes queries and assertions formatted in SUO-KIF, presenting proof outcomes with clickable links. Every inference step can be traced back to either a knowledge base fact or an application of inference rules. The user interface facilitates navigation through hierarchical theory structures and offers integrated connectivity to resources such as WordNet and Open Multilingual WordNet.
The platform supports multiple formats including THF, TPTP, SUO-KIF, OWL, and Prolog, with tools available for inter-format translation. Its embedded theorem prover E adheres to TPTP specifications and is managed via the e_ltb_runner control utility in an interactive setting. This utility applies relevance filtering, launches several E instances concurrently to identify proofs, terminates remaining processes upon success, and communicates results back to SigmaKEE’s backend system.