ISO 10303
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ISO 10303 is an
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
standard for the
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
-interpretable representation and
exchange Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...
of
product manufacturing information Product and manufacturing information, also abbreviated PMI, conveys non-geometric attributes in 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and Collaborative Product Development systems necessary for manufacturing product components and assemblies. PMI may in ...
. It is an
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
-based format. Its official title is: ''Automation systems and integration — Product data representation and exchange''. It is known informally as "STEP", which stands for "Standard for the Exchange of Product model data". ISO 10303 can represent 3D objects in
Computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
(CAD) and related information.


Overview

The objective of the
international standard international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International Or ...
is to provide a mechanism that is capable of describing product data throughout the life cycle of a
product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...
, independent from any particular system. The nature of this description makes it suitable not only for neutral file exchange, but also as a basis for implementing and sharing product databases and archiving. STEP can be typically used to exchange data between
CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...
,
computer-aided manufacturing Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) also known as computer-aided modeling or computer-aided machining is the use of software to control machine tools in the manufacturing of work pieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most ...
,
computer-aided engineering Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering analysis tasks. It includes , , , durability and optimization. It is included with computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) ...
,
product data management Product data management (PDM) should not be confused with product information management (PIM). PDM is the name of a business function within product lifecycle management (PLM) that is denotes the management and publication of product data. In soft ...
/
enterprise data modeling Enterprise data modelling or enterprise data modeling (EDM) is the practice of creating a graphical model of the data used by an enterprise or company. Typical outputs of this activity include an enterprise data model consisting of entity–rela ...
and other CAx systems. STEP addresses product data from mechanical and electrical design, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, analysis and manufacturing, as well as additional information specific to various industries such as automotive,
aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
,
building construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
,
ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
,
oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and combustion, burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, oil, and natura ...
, process plants and others. STEP is developed and maintained by the ISO technical committee TC 184, ''Automation systems and integration'', sub-committee SC 4, ''Industrial data''. Like other ISO and IEC standards STEP is copyright by ISO and is not freely available. However, the 10303 EXPRESS schemas are freely available, as are the recommended practices for implementers. Other standards developed and maintained by ISO TC 184/SC 4 are: *
ISO 13584 The official title of ISO 13584 is ''Industrial automation systems and integration - Parts library'', with the acronym PLIB. PLIB is developed and maintained by the ISO technical committee TC 184, ''Technical Industrial automation systems and integ ...
PLIB - Parts Library * ISO 15531 MANDATE - Industrial manufacturing management data *
ISO 15926 The ISO 15926 is a standard for data integration, sharing, exchange, and hand-over between computer systems. The title, "''Industrial automation systems and integration—Integration of life-cycle data for process plants including oil and ga ...
Process Plants including Oil and Gas facilities Life-Cycle data *
ISO 18629 ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
PSL- Process specification language * ISO 18876 IIDEAS - Integration of industrial data for exchange, access, and sharing * ISO 22745 Open technical dictionaries and their application to master data *
ISO 8000 ISO 8000 is the global standard for ''Data Quality and Enterprise Master Data''. It describes the features and defines the requirements for standard exchange of Master Data among business partners. It establishes the concept of Portability as a ...
Data quality STEP is closely related with PLIB (ISO 13584, IEC 61360).


History

The basis for STEP was the Product Data Exchange Specification (PDES), which was initiated during the mid-1980's and was submitted to ISO in 1988. The Product Data Exchange Specification (PDES) was a data definition effort intended to improve interoperability between manufacturing companies, and thereby improve productivity. The evolution of STEP can be divided into four release phases. The development of STEP started in 1984 as a successor of
IGES The Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) is a vendor-neutral file format that allows the digital exchange of information among computer-aided design (CAD) systems. It's an ASCII-based textual format. The official title of IGES is ''D ...
, SET and
VDA-FS VDA-FS is a CAD data exchange format for the transfer of surface models from one CAD system to another. Its name is an abbreviation of "", which translates to the "automotive industry association - surface data interface". Standard was specified b ...
. The initial plan was that "STEP shall be based on one single, complete, implementation-independent Product Information Model, which shall be the Master Record of the integrated topical and application information models". But because of the complexity, the standard had to be broken up into smaller parts that can be developed, balloted and approved separately. In 1994/95 ISO published the initial release of STEP as international standards (IS) with the parts 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 101, AP 201 and AP 203. Today AP 203 Configuration controlled 3D design is still one of the most important parts of STEP and supported by many CAD systems for import and export. In the second phase the capabilities of STEP were widely extended, primarily for the design of products in the aerospace, automotive, electrical, electronic, and other industries. This phase ended in the year 2002 with the second major release, including the STEP parts AP 202, AP 209, AP 210, AP 212, AP 214, AP 224, AP 225, AP 227, AP 232. Basic harmonization between the APs especially in the geometric areas was achieved by introducing the Application Interpreted Constructs (AIC, 500 series). A major problem with the monolithic APs of the first and second releases is that they are too big, have too much overlap with each other, and are not sufficiently harmonized. These deficits led to the development of the STEP modular architecture (400 and 1000 series).ISO TC184 / SC4 resolution 394, San Francisco, California - January 1999 This activity was primarily driven by new APs covering additional life-cycle phases such as early requirement analysis (AP 233) and maintenance and repair (AP 239), and also new industrial areas (AP 221, AP 236). New editions of the previous monolithic APs on a modular basis have been developed (AP 203, AP 209, AP 210). The publication of these new editions coincided with the release in 2010 of the new ISO product SMRL, the STEP Module and Resource Library, that contains all STEP resource parts and application modules on a single CD. The SMRL will be revised frequently and is available at a much lower cost than purchasing all the parts separately. In December 2014, ISO published the first edition of a new major Application Protocol, AP 242 ''Managed model based 3d engineering'', that combined and replaced the following previous APs in an upward compatible way: * AP 201, ''Explicit draughting''. Simple 2D drawing geometry related to a product. No association, no assembly hierarchy. * AP 202, ''Associative draughting''. 2D/3D drawing with association, but no product structure. * AP 203, ''Configuration controlled 3D designs of mechanical parts and assemblies''. * AP 204, ''Mechanical design using boundary representation'' * AP 214, ''Core data for automotive mechanical design processes'' * AP 242, ''Managed model based 3D engineering''
AP 242
was created by merging the following two Application protocols: * AP 203, ''Configuration controlled 3D designs of mechanical parts and assemblies'' (as used by the Aerospace Industry). * AP 214, ''Core data for automotive mechanical design processes'' (used by the Automotive Industry). In addition AP 242 edition 1 contains extensions and significant updates for: * Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing *
Kinematics Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the Motion (physics), motion of points, Physical object, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause ...
*
Tessellation A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane (mathematics), plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to high-dimensional ...
Two APs had been modified to be directly based on AP 242, and thus became supersets of it: * AP 209, ''Composite and metallic structural analysis and related design'' * AP 210, ''Electronic assembly, interconnect and packaging design''. This is the most complex and sophisticated STEP AP. AP242 edition 2, published in April 2020, extends edition 1 domain by the description of Electrical Wire Harnesses and introduces an extension of STEP modelisation and implementation methods based on SysML and system engineering with an optimized XML implementation method. This new edition contains also enhancements on 3D Dimensioning and Tolerancing, and Composite Design. New functionalities are also introduced like: * curved triangles * textures * levels of detail (LODs) * color on vertex * 3D scanner data support * persistent IDs on geometry * additive manufacturing


Structure

STEP is divided into many parts, grouped into * Environment ** Parts 1x: Description methods: EXPRESS, EXPRESS-X ** Parts 2x: Implementation methods: STEP-File,
STEP-XML For product and manufacturing information, STEP-XML is a short term for ISO 10303-28, ''Industrial automation systems and integration—Product data representation and exchange—Part 28: Implementation methods: XML representations of EXPRESS sche ...
,
SDAI ISO 10303-22 is a part of the ''implementation methods'' of STEP with the official title Standard data access interface or simply SDAI. SDAI defines an ''abstract'' Application Programming Interface (API) to work on application data according to a ...
** Parts 3x:
Conformance testing Conformance testing — an element of conformity assessment, and also known as compliance testing, or type testing — is testing or other activities that determine whether a process, product, or service complies with the requirements of a specifi ...
methodology and framework * Integrated data models ** The Integrated Resources (IR), consisting of *** Parts 4x and 5x: Integrated generic resources *** Parts 1xx: Integrated application resources *** PLIB ISO 13584-20 ''Parts library: Logical model of expressions'' ** Parts 5xx: Application Interpreted Constructs (AIC) ** Parts 1xxx: Application Modules (AM) * Top parts ** Parts 2xx: Application Protocols (AP) ** Parts 3xx: Abstract Test Suites (ATS) for APs ** Parts 4xx: Implementation modules for APs In total STEP consists of several hundred parts and every year new parts are added or new revisions of older parts are released. This makes STEP the biggest standard within ISO. Each part has its own scope and introduction. The APs are the top parts. They cover a particular application and industry domain and hence are most relevant for users of STEP. Every AP defines one or several Conformance Classes, suitable for a particular kind of product or data exchange scenario. To provide a better understanding of the scope, information requirements and usage scenarios an informative application activity model (AAM) is added to every AP, using
IDEF0 IDEF0, a compound acronym ("Icam DEFinition for Function Modeling", where ICAM is an acronym for "Integrated Computer Aided Manufacturing"), is a function modeling methodology for describing manufacturing functions, which offers a functional model ...
. STEP is primarily defining data models using the EXPRESS modeling language. Application data according to a given data model can be exchanged either by a STEP-File,
STEP-XML For product and manufacturing information, STEP-XML is a short term for ISO 10303-28, ''Industrial automation systems and integration—Product data representation and exchange—Part 28: Implementation methods: XML representations of EXPRESS sche ...
or via shared database access using
SDAI ISO 10303-22 is a part of the ''implementation methods'' of STEP with the official title Standard data access interface or simply SDAI. SDAI defines an ''abstract'' Application Programming Interface (API) to work on application data according to a ...
. Every AP defines a top data models to be used for data exchange, called the ''Application Interpreted Model'' (AIM) or in the case of a modular AP called ''Module Interpreted Models'' (MIM). These interpreted models are constructed by choosing generic objects defined in lower level data models (4x, 5x, 1xx, 5xx) and adding specializations needed for the particular application domain of the AP. The common generic data models are the basis for interoperability between APs for different kinds of industries and life cycle stages. In APs with several ''Conformance Classes'' the top data model is divided into subsets, one for each Conformance Class. The requirements of a conformant STEP application are: * implementation of either a
preprocessor In computer science, a preprocessor (or precompiler) is a program that processes its input data to produce output that is used as input in another program. The output is said to be a preprocessed form of the input data, which is often used by so ...
or a postprocessor or both, * using one of the STEP implementation methods STEP-File, STEP-XML or SDAI for the AIM/MIM data model and * supporting one or several conformance classes of an AP. Originally every APs was required to have a companion Abstract test suite (ATS) (e.g. ATS 303 for AP 203), providing Test Purposes,
Verdict Criteria In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...
and Abstract Test Cases together with example STEP-Files. But because the development of an ATS was very expensive and inefficient this requirement was dropped and replaced by the requirements to have an informal validation report and recommended practices how to use it. Today the recommended practices are a primary source for those going to implement STEP. The ''Application Reference Models'' (ARM) is the mediator between the AAM and the AIM/MIM. Originally its purpose was only to document high level application objects and the basic relations between them.
IDEF1X Integration DEFinition for information modeling (IDEF1X) is a data modeling language for the development of semantic data models. IDEF1X is used to produce a graphical information model which represents the structure and semantics of information ...
diagrams documented the AP of early APs in an informal way. The ARM objects, their attributes and relations are mapped to the AIM so that it is possible to implement an AP. As APs got more and more complex formal methods were needed to document the ARM and so EXPRESS which was originally only developed for the AIM was also used for the ARM. Over time these ARM models got very detailed till to the point that some implementations preferred to use the ARM instead of the formally required AIM/MIM. Today a few APs have ARM based exchange formats standardized outside of ISO TC184/SC4: * PLM-Services within the OMG for AP 214 *
ISO 14649 STEP-NC is a machine tool control language that extends the ISO 10303, ISO 10303 STEP standards with the machining model in ISO 14649, adding Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, geometric dimension and tolerance data for inspection, and the S ...
''Data model for computerized numerical controllers'' for AP 238 * PLCS-DEXs within
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for AP 239 There is a bigger overlap between APs because they often need to refer to the same kind of products, product structures, geometry and more. And because APs are developed by different groups of people it was always an issue to ensure interoperability between APs on a higher level. The ''Application Interpreted Constructs'' (AIC) solved this problem for common specializations of generic concepts, primarily in the geometric area. To address the problem of harmonizing the ARM models and their mapping to the AIM the ''STEP modules'' were introduced. They contain a piece of the ARM, the mapping and a piece of the AIM, called MIM. Modules are built on each other, resulting in an (almost) directed graph with the AP and conformance class modules at the very top. The modular APs are: * AP 209, ''Composite and metallic structural analysis and related design'' * AP 210, ''Electronic assembly, interconnect and packaging design'' * AP 221, ''Functional data and schematic representation of process plants'' * AP 236, ''Furniture product data and project data'' * AP 239, ''Product life cycle support'' * AP 242, ''Managed model based 3d engineering'' The modular editions of AP 209 and 210 are explicit extensions of AP 242.


Coverage of STEP Application Protocols (AP)

The STEP APs can be roughly grouped into the three main areas design, manufacturing and life cycle support. Design APs: * Mechanical: ** AP 207, ''Sheet metal die planning and design'' ** AP 209, ''Composite and metallic structural analysis and related design'' ** AP 235, ''Materials information for the design and verification of products'' ** AP 236, ''Furniture product data and project data'' ** AP 242, ''Managed model based 3d engineering'' * Connectivity oriented electric, electronic and piping/ventilation: ** AP 210, ''Electronic assembly, interconnect and packaging design''. The most complex and sophisticated STEP AP. ** AP 212, ''Electrotechnical design and installation''. ** AP 227, ''Plant spatial configuration'' * Ship: ** AP 215, ''Ship arrangement'' ** AP 216, ''Ship moulded forms'' ** AP 218, ''Ship structures'' * Others: ** AP 225, ''Building elements using explicit shape representation'' ** AP 232, ''Technical data packaging core information and exchange'' ** AP 233, ''Systems engineering data representation'' ** AP 237, ''Fluid dynamics'' has been cancelled and the functionality included in AP 209 Manufacturing APs: * AP 219, ''Dimensional inspection information exchange'' * AP 223, ''Exchange of design and manufacturing product information for cast parts'' * AP 224, ''Mechanical product definition for process plans using machining features'' * AP 238 - ''Application interpreted model for computer numeric controllers'' * AP 240, ''Process plans for machined products'' Life cycle support APs: * AP 239, ''Product life cycle support'' * AP 221, ''Functional data and schematic representation of process plants'' * AP 241, ''Generic Model for Life Cycle Support of AEC Facilities'' (planned) The AP 221 model is very similar to the ISO 15926-2 model, whereas AP 221 follows the STEP architecture and ISO 15926-2 has a different architecture. They both use ISO-15926-4 as their common reference data library or dictionary of standard instances. A further development of both standards resulted in
Gellish English Gellish is an ontology language for data storage and communication, designed and developed by Andries van Renssen since mid-1990s. It started out as an engineering modeling language ("Generic Engineering Language", giving it the name, "Gellish") bu ...
as general product modeling language that is application domain independent and that is proposed as a work item (NWI) for a new standard. The original intent of STEP was to publish one integrated data-model for all life cycle aspects. But due to the complexity, different groups of developers and different speed in the development processes, the splitting into several APs was needed. But this splitting made it difficult to ensure that APs are interoperable in overlapping areas. Main areas of harmonization are: * AP 212, 221, 227 and 242 for technical drawings with extension in AP 212 and 221 for schematic functionality * AP 224, 238 and 242 for machining features and for Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing For complex areas it is clear that more than one APs are needed to cover all major aspects: * AP 212 and 242 for electro-mechanical products such as a car or a transformer. This will be addressed by the second edition of AP242 that is currently under development * AP 242, 209 and 210 for electro/electronic-mechanical products * AP 212, 215, 216, 218, 227 for ships * AP 203/214, 224, 240 and
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for the complete design and manufacturing process of piece parts.


See also

*
Boundary representation In solid modeling and computer-aided design, boundary representation (often abbreviated B-rep or BREP) is a method for representing a 3D shape by defining the limits of its volume. A solid is represented as a collection of connected surface ...
* Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing * ISO 16739
Industry Foundation Classes The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a CAD data exchange data schema intended for description of architectural, building and construction industry data. It is a platform-neutral, open data schema specification that is not controlled by a singl ...
, widely used instead of ISO 10303-225


Notes


References

* * *


External links


Standardization group ISO TC184/SC4
*

*
STEP Ship team ISO TC 184/SC 4/WG 3/T 23

STEP AP242 Project

The STEP Module Repository on SourceForge

CAx Implementor Forum
- information on existing implementations and testing activities
WikiSTEP
- tutorial and overview information about STEP and recommended practices
PDES, Inc.
- recommended practices and links
Korea STEP Center

Product Life Cycle Support (PLCS) Resources

Application Protocol 224 implementation

PDM schema
- a common subset extracted from AP 203 and AP 214
BRLCAD and STEP

STEP File Analyzer and Viewer
- generate a spreadsheet from a STEP file, also a viewer STEP programs
STEP File ViewersOnline Step File Viewer

ISO 10303 STEP Standards – STEP Tools, Inc.

STP viewer 2.3 - download
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iso 10303 #10303 CAD file formats Modeling languages