Knowledge Engine

Anomaly detection example in context of the HEDGE-IoT project</a></li>
Improved logging and error handling</li>
Runtimes now gracefully shutdown if possible and inform others about it</li>
Fixes Knowledge Gap bug with semi-duplicate triples</li>
Fixes synchronization issues in distributed-mode.</li>
Improved documentation on docs.knowledge-engine.eu</a></li> </ul>
We expect to start using this brand new version on Arnhems buiten Electricity Campus</a>.
You can find the new release on our Github repository</a>.

🚀 Knowledge Engine 1.3.0 🚀

2025-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

It's time for a new release of the Knowledge Engine, version 1.3.0!

The most important changes since 1.2.5 include:

Reimplemented the reasoner and we now support several levels of reasoning! See our documentation for more info.</li>

Added REST API operation to return Knowledge Gaps</li>

Improved way to configure the Knowledge Engine using MicroProfile Config standard</li>

Improved documentation on docs.knowledge-engine.eu</li>

Improved workflows to simplify release process</li> </ul>
You can find the new release on our Github repository</a>.

First demo for HEDGE-IoT

2024-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

On the 11th and 12th of September it was time for the General Assembly of the HEDGE-IoT project. It was organised at Arnhems Buiten</a> which was a perfect time for us to show our progress so far!

We have presented our current demo where we're starting to gather data from the first data sources. This demo has been implemented in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The dashboard provides a first insight into the energy usage at Arnhems Buiten. It shows the location of several energy meters and the corresponding data. This data has been SAREFized to provide semantic interoperability for future services that will be connected.

While Arnhems Buiten is renovating the buildings and setting up sensors and meters, we'll be improving the Knowledge Engine and expanding the demo with additional data sources, such as solar panels.

Knowledge Engine in proof-of-concept for heatpump data exchange

2024-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

On June 27th installers and manufacturers of heatpumps in the TDI500 consortium came together at TBI in Amersfoort to discuss the exchange of heatpump data. The TDI500 consortium wants to achieve the installation of 500 extra heatpumps per day in the Netherlands. From our team, Jack Verhoosel, Jeanine de Graaf and Klaas Andries de Graaf are working on a solution to exchange performance data from the different heatpump installations to the inhabitants and installers. We presented a proof-of-concept implementation of the Knowledge engine to exchange data from various manufacturer APIs in an interoperable and semantically enriched format. A series of simple webpages (see example below) showcase how the data is exchange. The exchange makes use of the Heatpump Common Ontology (HCO), which is extended from SAREF.

🚀 Knowledge Engine 1.2.5 🚀

2024-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

It's time for a new release of the Knowledge Engine, version 1.2.5!
The most important changes since 1.2.4 include:

PR #509</a>: Make our documentation more user friendly with search, code highlights and even a dark mode. We also made it available on docs.knowledge-engine.eu</a>! </li>
#495</a>: Fixed knowledge directory version docker image that failed to start.</li>
#506</a>: Solved bug where typed literals were converted into plain literals.</li> </ul>
You can find the new release on our Github repository</a>.

InterConnect final review successful!

2024-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

On 22nd and 23rd of May 2024 the final review of the InterConnect project</a> was successfully completed. During this hybrid event in Brussels the European Commission, reviewers and project leadership met in person and another 35-40 participants joined online. The InterConnect team presented the project's achievements and impacts, lessons learned and exploitation and collaboration beyond the project. The Knowledge Engine plays a vital role in the Semantic Interoperability Framework (SIF), which is one of the key exploitable results of the project. To ensure the SIF's future, we will join hands with, among others, the Big Data Value Association</a>.
With the help of the InterConnect project, we were able to turn an innovative proof-of-concept of the Knowledge Engine into the professional higher TRL software that it is today. The APIs were streamlined, a reasoner tailored to distributed environments was added and we validated the Knowledge Engine in various large scale pilots across Europe.
Also see our previous blog post about InterConnect (https://www.knowledge-engine.eu/blog/interconnect-pilot/).
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Role for the Knowledge Engine in speeding up the energy transformation

2024-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

Thursday 14 March installers and energy companies from the TDI500 consortium came together at Essent in Den Bosch to take the next steps towards the goal of installing 500 heatpumps extra per day. TNO has serveral roles in this project. From our team, Jack Verhoosel, Klaas Andries de Graaf and Jeanine de Graaf are working on an interoperability solution: getting performance data from the different heatpump installations to the inhabitants and installers. They already formulated a Heatpump Common Dataset. As you can see in the picture, this dataset was intensively discussed by the manufacturers during the working day in Den Bosch. Also the draft version of the SAREF based ontology was discussed. It was very well received and led to agreement of the manufacturers to make their data available. With this data, TNO can develop a proof of concept in which the Knowledge Engine will orchestrate the data exchange in such a way that performance data from heatpumps of different manufacturers can be made accessible via one portal in a unified manner.


🚀 Knowledge Engine 1.2.4 🚀

2024-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

It's time for a new release of the Knowledge Engine, version 1.2.4!
The most important changes since 1.2.3 include:

Thanks to Johan Kumps: Fixed critical and high severity CVEs by upgrading the base image and dependencies (PR #14</a>)</li>
Improved logging, specifically:

#451</a>: Moved log statements about meta interactions to debug level</li>
#456</a>: Avoid exceptions in the logs when a SmartConnector is called after it has stopped</li>
#457</a>: Remove possibly sensitive data from the logs</li>
#480</a>: Avoid NullPointerExceptions in the logs when receiving a message with an unknown id</li> </ul> </li>
Improved stability and recoverability when running the Knowledge Engine in distributive mode, specifically:

#463</a>: Improved handling of unavailable KERs which caused CompletionException in the logs</li>
#474</a>: Added validation for the KE_RUNTIME_EXPOSED_URL</li>
#475</a>: Send correct KER id in DELETE /runtimedetails/{id} calls</li> </ul> </li>
Moved CI workflow to GitHub Actions</li>
Upgraded dependencies (issues #9</a>, #460</a>, #461</a>, #462</a>, #465</a>, #466</a>, #467</a>, #468</a>, #471</a>, #472</a>)</li> </ul>
You can find the new release on our Github repository</a>.

A new project is starting: HEDGE-IoT!

2024-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

Last week the HEDGE-IoT project had its kick-off. Within HEDGE-IoT 44 participants from across Europe join forces and work on the digitalization of the energy grid. Within this project, we will continue the work that has been going on in the InterConnect project on data interoperability and semantics for smart buildings. Specifically, we'll focus on seamlessly exchanging data between various partners and machines to enable unambiguous, interoperable and event-driven knowledge exchange.
There will also be a Dutch pilot running in Arnhems Buiten</a>, a former KEMA testing location. Arnhems Buiten is being developed into an Energy Innovation Campus, a place where various parties can come together who all work on topics related to energy, certification and environmental technologies. Some companies who are located here include DNV-GL (consultancy firm for clean energy), Specialized (designs and manufactures bicycles, including e-bikes), Watch-E (software to provide insight into the energy usage of homes) and TenneT (Dutch electricity transmission manager).
Several buildings in Arnhems Buiten will be equipped with, e.g. temperature sensors, solar panels, charging stations, batteries and heat pumps. We will collect energy usage data from these devices and use them to reduce energy grid congestion, e.g. through enabling peak shaving.

🚀 Knowledge Engine 1.2.3 🚀

2024-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Happy new year! It's time for a new release of the Knowledge Engine, version 1.2.3!
The most important changes since 1.2.0 include:

Fixed a bug related to using authentication in distributed mode (issue #417)</li>
Improved communication between Knowledge Engine Runtimes using timeouts, log statements and detecting unreachable KBs</li>
Improved stability and recoverability when running the Knowledge Engine in distributed mode</li>
Fixed a memory leak that occurred when there were too many unhandled handle requests</li> </ul>
You can find the new release on our Github repository</a>.

Knowledge Engine community highlights

2023-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

Since the Knowledge Engine went open source on GitHub</a>, we are working hard to build a community of users and developers around it. In this article we highlight some of the community contributions.
Before the summer we received our first open source code contribution in the form of a pull request</a> on our GitHub repository</a>. The contribution improved the robustness and security of the Knowledge Engine by automatically checking for newer versions of dependent software libraries. The contribution was made by our InterConnect partner Inetum Realdolmen</a> and hopefully more will come!
Apart from code contributions, we also want to highlight some of the tooling with respect to graph patterns that have been developed by our community. Graph patterns play a vital role in the application of the Knowledge Engine, but they can be hard to create and grasp. We believe tooling can help to remedy some of these difficulties.

Our InterConnect partner Universität Kassel</a> developed a very functionally complete Graph Pattern Editor with a dark mode, code completion, syntax highlighting and functionality to replace prefixes by their full URIs. With permission, we have published the Graph Pattern Editor on our website</a>, so that we can also benefit from it in our other Knowledge Engine projects!

The Graph Pattern Visualizer developed by our InterConnect partner INESCTEC</a> helps with understanding what knowledge a graph pattern represents. It does this by visualizing it as a graph with nodes connected by edges. Its features include visualizing with or without rdf:type relations and dragging and zooming of the graph. The Graph Pattern Visualizer is available on our website</a> with permission from the authors.
Together with our partners we keep applying, developing and improving the Knowledge Engine to make semantic interoperability a common practice when developing digital innovations!

The European Commission encourages interoperability, powered by the Knowledge Engine

2023-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

Recently, the European Commission acknowledged the usage of the Knowledge Engine on several occasions.

They announced</a> the European Energy App that will bring together data from different sources to give the user “consumption reduction recommendations, eco-tips, and incentives for load shifting.” The Semantic Interoperability Framework (SIF) of the H2020 InterConnect project</a>, in which the Knowledge Engine plays a vital role, is chosen as the backbone for this initiative. Pilots are planned in up to 10 Member States. 

Additionally, the European Commission labels the Knowledge Engine as a key innovation</a> to combat climate change. It is assessed to address the needs of existing markets and customers and recommends us to work towards market entry. The Knowledge Engine received this label for its role as interoperability enabler within the H2020 Ploutos project</a>. In this project the Knowledge Engine enables consumers and certificate auditors to easily access information about the origin and sustainability of food products, providing valuable insights into the entire supply chain. Our previous article</a> describes the Ploutos app in more detail.

Knowledge Engine at the ETSI IoT Conference

2023-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

Last week Cornelis Bouter and Jack Verhoosel of the Data Science department visited the ETSI IoT conference</a> in Sophia Antipolis, France. They presented various applications and extensions of the SAREF reference ontology</a> that have resulted from the European projects Ploutos</a>, Interconnect</a> and MAGPIE</a>. The Ploutos project has made various extensions to the SAREF4AGRI</a> ontology based on a use case for certification of farmers and food companies in the agrifood supply chain. This ontology is now used by TNO's Knowledge Engine for an application to support Ploutos partner Peterson Consulting in its certificate conformity assessment process. In the Interconnect project an extension has been made of the SAREF4ENER</a> ontology that covers various energy flexibility profiles of energy consuming devices in the smart home. Again using TNO's Knowledge Engine, this ontology is used to connect various devices in the home with the home energy management system in order to deal with flexibly energy demand and supply. Finally, the MAGPIE presentation about data sharing in the port immediately attracted opportunities to contribute to a SAREF extension for the maritime domain. All of these SAREF extension will be further standardized in the remainder of 2023 into next releases of the SAREF family.


Ploutos app powered by the Knowledge Engine

2023-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

The Ploutos H2020 project has developed an innovative app that enhances traceability and sustainability in the agrifood industry. The app enables consumers and certificate auditors to easily access information about the origin and sustainability of food products, providing valuable insights into the entire supply chain. By utilizing certification and sensor data, the app can show whether farms are certified as organic or adhere to other sustainable practices.

The main page of the app, where the user can scan a QR code or enter the lot ID of a product.
This app is powered by the Knowledge Engine, a data sharing platform that facilitates the consistent exchange of essential information among all parties involved in the value chain. Through a common semantic model, organizations can effectively enhance transparency, traceability, and sustainability in the agrifood sector.

Harvesting event detail page that shows information about the crop type that was harvested on a parcel.

🚀 Knowledge Engine 1.2.0 🚀

2023-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

We are excited to announce version 1.2.0 of the Knowledge Engine!
Aside from expected bug fixes and performance improvements, this release includes major improvements to the reasoner (as written about in a previous blogpost</a>).
Furthermore, by making a small change to the networking code, we now support Basic Authentication, allowing to restrict participation in data exchange to those knowledge bases with credentials.
For more information, see the release notes</a>.

Reasoner Milestone

2023-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

This week, the Knowledge Engine team reached a milestone in the development of the distributed reasoner.
The distributed reasoner is capable of automatically combining knowledge that is spread over different systems. The team has adapted Apache Jena</a>'s rule system's test suite to guarantee a baseline of functionality.
After designing a special algorithm for the reasoner and rebuilding all the functionality such as automatic knowledge gap discovery and explainability, the distributed reasoner is now more capable than ever.

A reasoning graph consisting of related rules.
The algorithm uses multiple passes over the rules in the reasoning graph, and first propagates filters through the graph's rules so that only the required data is considered. This is followed by result propagation where the derived facts are spread among the rules in the graph.
With this improved reasoner, we have a foundation for many exciting new possibilities, offering even more flexibility for knowledge bases that use the Knowledge Engine.

TDI500 Kick-off

2023-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

Today was the official kick-off for TDI500</a> (Team Duurzaam Installeren 500). TDI500 aims to achieve 500 extra heat pump installations each day in the Netherlands, to reduce carbon emissions and dependency on natural gas.
The consortium consists of key players in the heat pump installation market like Breman and HeatTransformers, as well as energy suppliers such as Eneco and Essent. TNO is the primary research partner in TDI500, applying the "contingenten" approach</a> and the TNO Heat Pump Application Centre (HPAC)</a>.
Members of the consortium.
TNO ISP's Data Science department will use the Knowledge Engine</a>, a distributed semantic interoperability solution, for sharing the large variety of data between the industry partners, users at home, and scientific models at TNO to enable unambiguous, interoperable, and event-driven knowledge exchange.
The Knowledge Engine is already being successfully applied in the greenhouse industry and in the energy sector throughout Europe in the InterConnect project</a>, for example, to optimize energy grid usage by various devices in a 22-story flat in Eindhoven</a>.
The moment just after the project contract was signed by the Ministry of Climate and Energy Policy.

Knowledge Engine Powers Dutch InterConnect Pilot

2023-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

The Dutch pilot phase of the InterConnect project</a> has officially begun in Eindhoven. A 22-story building, named Next</a>, has been constructed to house 160 apartments for residents to participate in the trial.

The building utilises smart technology, powered by the Knowledge Engine</a>, ReFLEX</a> and SAREF</a>, to efficiently manage appliances based on user preferences and energy tariffs. This innovative approach contributes to the European Green Deal</a> by absorbing excess energy during peak times, making room for more sustainable energy sources, and reducing overall energy costs for residents.
The video below shows the building and technology in more detail:
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