Leveraging Controlled English at the Network Edge for Policy-Based Management of ISR Services

Service-oriented Architectures (SOAs) for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are an active research topic. Yet, autonomous configuration of services for real life constraints (spatio-temporal, input/output interoperability, policies, security etc.) is still a challenging problem. In domains such as emergency response and military multi-partner coalition operations, constraints applied to auto-configured services are typically regulated through policies. Traditionally these policies are created at the center of the operational network by high-level decision makers and are expressed in low-level policy languages (e.g. Common Information Model Simplified Policy Language) by technical personnel. This makes them difficult to understand and work with by non-technical users operating at the edge of the network. In this paper we investigate the use of Controlled English (CE) as a means to define a policy representation that is both human-friendly and machine processable. We present a policybased SOA management approach by developing a CE domain model that allows CE-expressed policy rules, which are evaluated directly by the service composition process to configure compliant services. The use of a CE policy model is intended to benefit coalition networks by bridging the gap between technical and non-technical users in terms of policy creation and negotiation, while at the same time being directly processable by a policychecking system without transformation to any other technical representation.