SynapseCommand Operational Ontology
The SynapseCommand Operational Ontology is a draft public terminological vocabulary that gives operational concepts, relationships and identifiers stable meaning across translated sources.
Common syntax is not common meaning
Two sources can produce records with the same shape while using terms and relationships differently. The Operational Ontology supplies governed classes, relationships, hierarchy, labels, definitions and stable identifiers so those meanings can be inspected.
It is a terminological vocabulary, not a store of operational instances and not a reasoner. It contains no inference rules. Mapping a third-party vocabulary onto it is a governed human decision, not an automatic assertion by the validator.
Eight public Turtle modules
The repository authority is split into 8 modules. A generated JSON-LD context and packaged ontology-term registry are checked against them.
- core
- pnt
- air
- logistics
- isr
- c2
- mission
- decision
Shape, meaning and decision logic remain distinct
This is a conceptual separation of responsibilities. A deployment does not need to exercise every adapter or semantic feature for every record.
- External layer
External systems, standards and feeds
Source formats remain authoritative for their own wire semantics.
- Public layer
Public adapters
Translate source records into the public canonical layer and, where supported, back out.
- Public layer
Canonical Data Model (CDM)
Defines the normalised record shape.
- Public layer
SC-OES + Operational Ontology
Define assertion semantics and governed operational meaning.
- Private layer
SynapseCommand decision runtime
Applies proprietary reasoning, fusion, scoring and decision support.
The public repository exposes the integration contract and semantic vocabulary. It does not publish the SynapseCommand reasoning, inference, correlation, fusion, scoring or course-of-action runtime.
Terms as published
The eight Turtle modules carry 73 terms in this release. The table below is a sourced extract, not the whole vocabulary: each identifier, definition, relationship, module and maturity value is taken from the Turtle module named in its row. No equivalence with any external vocabulary is asserted.
| Term | Identifier | Definition | Relationship | Module | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OperationalConcept | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:OperationalConcept | Anything this vocabulary can name. The root of the ontology, and the only class with no parent. | No parent | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| OperationalEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:OperationalEvent | Something asserted to have happened, at an instant or over an interval, by a producer that says so. | subClassOf core:OperationalConcept | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| ObservationEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:ObservationEvent | An event in which a producer reports what it observed, measured or directly detected, and asserts nothing about what the observation means. | subClassOf core:OperationalEvent | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| AssessmentEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:AssessmentEvent | An event carrying an interpreted judgement, drawn from information or evidence, about something not itself directly observed. | subClassOf core:OperationalEvent | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| DecisionEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:DecisionEvent | An event recording that a decision was taken, and by whom. | subClassOf core:OperationalEvent | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| Platform | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:Platform | An asset that carries other assets, materiel or people, and whose position can change. | subClassOf core:Asset | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| affects | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:core:Affects | The subject bears on the object's operational state or freedom of action. It does not say how, or that the effect is adverse. | rdfs:range core:OperationalObject | core | EXPERIMENTAL |
| GNSSInterferenceEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:pnt:GNSSInterferenceEvent | An event reporting observed interference with the reception of global navigation satellite system signals. | subClassOf core:ObservationEvent | pnt | EXPERIMENTAL |
| Aircraft | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:air:Aircraft | A platform that operates in the air. | subClassOf core:Platform | air | EXPERIMENTAL |
| ThreatAssessmentUpdatedEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:isr:ThreatAssessmentUpdatedEvent | An event carrying a revised judgement about a threat. | subClassOf core:AssessmentEvent | isr | EXPERIMENTAL |
| C2System | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:c2:C2System | A system used to exercise command and control. | subClassOf core:System | c2 | EXPERIMENTAL |
| SupplyItem | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:logistics:SupplyItem | A kind of supply held, issued and consumed as countable quantity. | subClassOf core:Supply | logistics | EXPERIMENTAL |
| OperationalImpactAssessedEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:mission:OperationalImpactAssessedEvent | An event stating an assessed operational consequence for a mission or an activity. | subClassOf core:ImpactEvent | mission | EXPERIMENTAL |
| DecisionRecordedEvent | tag:synapsecommand.com,2026-09-06:ontology:decision:DecisionRecordedEvent | An event recording that a decision was taken, and by whom. | subClassOf core:DecisionEvent | decision | EXPERIMENTAL |
- core.ttl (46)
- pnt.ttl (4)
- air.ttl (8)
- logistics.ttl (5)
- isr.ttl (2)
- c2.ttl (3)
- mission.ttl (2)
- decision.ttl (3)
Turtle is authoritative. The JSON-LD context and the packaged term registry are generated projections of it. Directory view: ontology/. Governance: term and event-type process.
This vocabulary is not a populated operational knowledge graph, an inference engine or an entity-fusion service. It names things and relationships so that meaning can be inspected; it holds no instances and draws no conclusions.
Governance and versioning
Version 0.1.0 is a draft maintained within the SynapseCommand project by Decent Cybersecurity. Every term in this release is marked EXPERIMENTAL; no term claims STABLE maturity.
Terms are changed through the published ontology-term process. The Turtle modules are authoritative. Derived files are generated, and repository tests reject drift between the source vocabulary, JSON-LD projection and packaged registry.
Status and limits
This is not an official NATO ontology and does not claim that external systems share one universal military ontology. It has not been submitted to, reviewed by or approved by an external standards body. Its public vocabulary does not expose proprietary SynapseCommand reasoning or decision logic.
Inspect the governed vocabulary
The public repository contains the authoritative Turtle modules, generated projections, governance process and drift checks. The documentation provides orientation without replacing those repository artefacts.