A Framework for Automatic Web Service Composition

Abstract : Complex mission plans need to incorporate information from various sources and domains to achieve a task. This information is available through a variety of web services in the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), but the ability to automatically compose them into a single coherent task is not readily available. Traditional composition approaches require human-intensive involvement, making them time-consuming and error prone. Therefore, the ability to automatically or semi-automatically orchestrate web services in a short timeframe is highly desirable. Recent works in the area of automatic web service composition produced a plethora of automation approaches with different degrees of automation. Different situations call for different composition approaches. However, there is a lack of guidance regarding what approaches are appropriate for a particular situation. In this paper, we examine the various approaches and develop a general-purpose framework for automatic service composition. Within the framework, we outline the common steps in the various composition processes and review the options available at each step. We also provide guidelines for choosing a composition approach within the framework for the geospatial planning domain.