Documentation

The Cascade Protocol provides a modular ontology framework for representing personal health and wellness data using Linked Data standards. This documentation covers the semantic vocabularies and SDK.

Semantic Vocabularies

The Cascade Protocol uses modular RDF vocabularies built on W3C standards. Each vocabulary can be versioned independently while maintaining interoperability.

Core Vocabulary v1.0 Stable

Namespace: https://ns.cascadeprotocol.org/core/v1#
Prefix: cascade:

Cross-application vocabulary for schema versioning, data provenance, and user identity. Used by all Cascade Protocol applications.

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POTS Vocabulary v1.2 Stable

Namespace: https://ns.cascadeprotocol.org/pots/v1#
Prefix: pots:

Domain-specific vocabulary for POTS home screening checks using the NASA Lean Test protocol. Supports age-adjusted thresholds, symptom logging, and blood pressure analysis.

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ECG Vocabulary Coming Soon

Namespace: https://ns.cascadeprotocol.org/ecg/v1#
Prefix: ecg:

Electrocardiogram data from Apple Watch and medical devices. Planned for v2.0.

Quick Start

Here's a minimal example showing how the vocabularies work together:

@prefix cascade: <https://ns.cascadeprotocol.org/core/v1#> .
@prefix pots: <https://ns.cascadeprotocol.org/pots/v1#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

<#pots-check-abc123> a pots:POTSCheckResult ;
    # Core vocabulary properties
    cascade:schemaVersion "1.2" ;
    cascade:dataProvenance cascade:ConsumerGenerated ;

    # POTS-specific properties
    pots:date "2025-12-05T14:30:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime ;
    pots:protocol "nasaLean" ;
    pots:potsThresholdMet "true"^^xsd:boolean ;

    # Provenance tracking
    prov:wasAttributedTo <https://id.cascadeprotocol.org/users/abc123> .

Design Principles

Modularity: Core concepts are stable and versioned independently from domain vocabularies. New health apps can be added without breaking existing data.
Interoperability: All vocabularies align with healthcare standards (FHIR, SNOMED CT, LOINC) and use standard W3C formats.
Privacy-First: Designed for local-first storage in Solid Pods with WebID-based access control.
Consumer Wellness Focus: Data is classified as consumer-generated wellness information (non-diagnostic).
Provenance Tracking: All data includes comprehensive provenance metadata using W3C PROV-O.

SDK (Coming Soon)

The Cascade Protocol SDK for Swift is currently in development. It provides:

Local encrypted Pod storage with ChaCha20-Poly1305
Automatic RDF/Turtle serialization and deserialization
HealthKit integration for Apple Watch data
WebID-based identity and access control
Audit logging and provenance tracking