ISO 10303 (product data standards for industrial automation)

The official title of ISO 10303 is Industrial automation systems and integration - Product data representation and exchange.

ISO 10303 is known as STEP or the Standard for the Exchange of Product model data. It is an International Standard for the computer-interpretable representation and exchange of industrial product data. The objective is to provide a mechanism that is capable of describing product data throughout the life cycle of a product, 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.

Typically STEP can be used to exchange data between CAD, CAM, CAE, PDM/EDM and other systems CAx. STEP is addressing product data from mechanical and electrical design, analysis and manufacturing, with additional information specific to various industries such as automotive, aerospace, building construction, ship, oil & gas, process plants and others.

STEP is developed and maintained by the ISO technical committee TC 184, Technical Industrial automation systems and integration, sub-committee SC4 Industrial data. Like other ISO and IEC standards, STEP is copyrighted by ISO and not freely available.

Structure

Main article: List of STEP parts

STEP is divided into many parts, grouped into

• Environment
  • Parts 1x: Description methods: EXPRESS, EXPRESS-X
  • Parts 2x: Implementation methods: STEP-File, STEP-XML, SDAI
  • Parts 3x: Conformance testing methodology and framework
• Integrated data models
  • Parts 4x and 5x: Integrated generic resources
  • Parts 1xx: Integrated application resources
  • Parts 5xx: Application integrated 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

STEP is primarily defining data models using the EXPRESS modelling language. Application data according to a given data model can be exchanged either by a STEP-File, STEP-XML or via shared database access using SDAI. The top data models to be used for data exchange are defined in the APs and are based from lower level data models (4x, 5x, 1xx, 5xx and 1xxx) are combined STEP is defining two different types of data models, the Application Integrated Models (ARM) and the Application or Module Integrated Models (AIM, MIM). The simplified and incomplete ARM models define application objects from a users perspective. The integrated models are based on a common set of generic objects, allowing interpretability between different kinds of industries and life cycle stages.

History

The evolution of STEP can be divided into three release phases.

1. The development of STEP started in 1984 as a successor of IGES, SET and VDAFS. In 1994/95 ISO publishes the initial release of STEP as international standards (IS) with the parts 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 101, AP201, AP203. Today AP203 Configuration controlled 3D design is still one of the most important parts of STEP and supported by many CAD systems for import and export.
2. In the second phase the capabilities of STEP got 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 AP202, 209, AP210, AP212, AP214, AP224, AP225, AP227, AP232. Basic harmonization between the APs especially in the geometric areas was achieved by introducing the Application Interpreted Constructs (AIC, 500 series).
3. A major problem with the APs of the first and second release is that they are too big, have too much overlap with each other and are not sufficiently harmonized. These deficits lead to the development of the STEP modular architecture (400 and 1000 series). This activity was primarily driven by new AP covering additional life-cycle phases such as early requirement analysis (AP233) and maintenance and repair (AP239), and also new industrial areas (AP221, 236). In addition older APs prepare for a new edition on a modular basis (AP203, 209, 210). This is an ongoing process.

STEP is closely related with PLIB (ISO 13584, IEC 61360).