STEP (the STandard for the Exchange of Product data) is an international standard (designated ISO 10303) for which the development was initiated in the 1980s and which has become a usable reality during the 90s.
STEP provides a neutral form of data definition for a variety of disciplines with the objective of covering the full range of product data over the complete life cycle. STEP enables data exchange for the various disciplines by encapsulating the means of defining the data in an Application Protocol. A number of these 'AP's have been developed to full International Standard (IS) and there are even more in development at the various stages which the definitions must pass through before reaching IS.
Theorem have been involved in the development of STEP and STEP processors since the early 90s. For the PDES Inc. AeroSTEP Pilot Theorem provided one of the first functional class 6 translators for AP203 to enable Rolls-Royce plc. to share their CADDS5 solid data with Boeing. For more information see later.
Since that time Theorem have developed a range of STEP processors for the leading CAD systems to support the exchange of data between those systems. Processors are available for AP203 and AP214 . Theorem have in the past also done work using STEP AP209 processors.
Theorem are members of ProSTEP iViP Association and PDES Inc. , two of the worlds leading organizations involved in the development and promotion of STEP.
Theorem have been actively involved in the implementors forums initiated by the two bodies for a number of years. The groups both worked in similar ways involving web based development and testing cycles interspersed with face to face meetings between the various participating developers and interested users.
One group was known as STEPnet which was initiated and supported by PDES Inc. and which has furthered the development and implementation of AP203. This group met in the U.S. in collaboration with the PDES Inc. roundtables.
The other group was the ProSTEP Association roundtable which brought engineering companies and vendors together to work with the AP214 protocol. This group met in Germany at the ProSTEP office in Darmstadt.
In 1999 the ProSTEP roundtable and the PDES STEPnet group combined to form CAx-IF (the Computer Aided eXchange Implementors Forum). This organization meets alternately in Germany and the U.S. The focus of the group is to develop harmonized methods for the support of Computer Aided Modelling system geometry which will work with any Application Protocol. The aim is to provide support which is interoperable between APs and such that AP specific forms of data will not adversely impact the support for the harmonized data.
Part of the International Standard process defines ways in which the processors can be tested for conformance to the relevant standard. USPRO has been approved as a body to certify processors for STEP (ISO 10303).
The U.S. Product Data Association ( USPRO ) is a non profit membership organization. Established by industry, USPRO is the ANSI accredited standards development organization in the U.S. involved in the development of STEP and related standards. During 1998, USPRO initiated the STEP Certification Testing Program to certify compliance of STEP-based software products.
The Theorem AP203 processor for CADDS5 has undergone US PRO conformance testing and has successfully completed the testing process.
The STEP AP203 CADDS5 CADverter product certified for ISO 10303-203:1994 conformance class 6a was version 4.0 running on a SUN Sparc 10 workstation under Solaris 2.6.
Application Protocol 203 (AP203) supports configuration controlled 3D designs of mechanical parts and assemblies. AP203 describes how the structure, the geometrical shape and the versions of complex mechanical components and assemblies are to be represented. It was developed primarily by the aerospace industry and has been accredited as a full international standard ISO-10303-203.
Conformance certification may be achieved for a specified subset of the complete application protocol. For purposes of conformance testing, the acceptable subsets are designated as specific conformance classes.
Conformance class 6a of AP203 supports the translation of brep solid geometry together with associated configuration management information sufficient to satisfy the minimum requirements of AP203.
Certification is awarded for a specific version of the product running on the nominated platform and operating system. In this case the Solaris 2.6 version was used for the conformance testing. However, the product is available on other platforms.
The architecture of the Theorem CADverter products enables the modular usage of the software developed with a range of products. Thus the STEP AP203 and the STEP AP214 processors both provide a common level of translation for a range of CAD systems. This allows for the same level of functionality and same quality of support to be provided for the range of STEP products available.
Click here for further information about the PDES Inc. AeroSTEP Pilot.
As with many electronic information disciplines a number of acronyms have been generated pertaining to Step. PDES Inc. provides a glossary of terms which covers the subject
