TIRAC^®

The Toolkit for Information Representation and Agent Collaboration (TIRAC®) is an application development and runtime framework designed for commercial decision-support systems. CDM uses TIRAC® to enforce programming structures, auto-generate generic code, and maintain a documented trail of modifications. The auto-generation of code enables programmers to focus on the design, rather than the implementation, of the software. This limits manual coding to the domain-specific internal information, interface functions, and intelligent agents.

A core component of any TIRAC®-based application is the virtual representation of real world problems. This virtual representation takes the form of an information object model, commonly referred to as an ontology. For example, if automobiles were the represented domain, an object model could be created to virtually represent every aspect that defines an automobile (class, wheel-base dimension, ground clearance) and how they all correspond to one another (all automobiles have at least one engine, fuel storage and capacity requirements, driver and passenger safety features, and so forth).

Figure 1: A simplified object model of an automobile domain.

By providing this ontological context (i.e., data and the corresponding relationships), TIRAC® enables CDM programmers to rapidly develop client-side applications, such as intelligent software agents that collaborate with one another and human users. These agents generate and evaluate plans, monitor changes, and inform users of situational relevant events, such as immediate and developing resource shortages, failures, threats, and other impediments.

Principal objectives achieved by TIRAC® include:

• Automatic notifications to customers of relevant changes in information based on an individual’s preferences.




• The ability to generate constraint-based information queries and subscriptions.




• Automatic system management of associations during the creation, deletion, and editing of objects.




• Interoperability with external data sources, interfaces, and data translators.