SatTerm experience: vocabulary control and facet analysis help improve the software requirement solicitation process

One of the most difficult steps in the software development process is moving from requirements written in natural, uncontrolled language, to the formalisms required by the design modelling languages. To solve this issue, practitioners should pay attention to the possibility of applying vocabulary control and knowledge representation techniques to produce better specifications. The use of controlled vocabularies and the modelling of the conceptual relationships between concepts in a specific domain are expected to improve the quality of the specifications. Vocabulary control and semantic modelling are promising tools to avoid the most frequent problems in the requirements specification process: lack of consistency and ambiguity. This paper provides a detailed description of the development process of an ontology used for requirements modelling in the area of satellite control systems. The process applied is based on well-established practices and guidelines applied for the construction of controlled vocabularies and
faceted classifications schemas. Engineers can use the ontology when writing system specifications using predefined templates. The use of this ontology ensures the consistency of the specifications written by different engineers improves the communication with other parties involved in the system construction activities and sets the foundations for a semi-automated generation of models for
subsequent design activities.