Enabling interoperability of STEP Application Protocols at meta-data and knowledge level

Abstract

Numerous proposals exist worldwide for the representation of data models and services for the main manufacturing activities. The ISO10303 STEP has developed more than 40 standard Application Protocols for product data representation, and they reflect the consolidated expertise of major industrial worldwide specialists working together for more than 20 years, covering the principal product data management areas for the main industries. However, these standards are focused on product data representation. A framework to enable them to interoperate at meta-model and knowledge levels permits the reuse of this existing expertise, extending its capabilities in complementary application domains, like advanced modelling tools, knowledge management and the emergent semantic web technologies. This paper proposes a framework for the development, usage and extension of integrated data and knowledge models, using as a reference existent standard-based protocols. The work results from the research and development completed by the authors under the umbrella of international projects.