The State of STEP Stephen C. Waterbury NASA/GSFC NASA STEP for Aerospace Workshop January 17, 2001 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Achievements and Challenges

Translators Mechanical CAD –Almost every COTS MCAD tool has a STEP translator Electrical/Electronic CAD –1 COTS translator, more being developed Computer-Aided Engineering (Analysis) –1 COTS translator, more being developed Systems Engineering –No translators (AP is a Working Draft) –Potential benefits are huge … funding is needed Product Data Management (PDM) –Some COTS translators, more being developed

Toolkits and Utilities Translator development toolkits –Several high-quality COTS toolkits Enterprise application development toolkits –Several high-quality COTS toolkits; some open-source components Data Utilities (validation, quality, administration) –Several high-quality COTS tools; some open-source tools

Special Cases Integrated manufacturing (CAD-to-NC, etc.) –High-quality toolkits are now emerging Design / Analysis integration (CAD/CAE) –Some COTS translators; more capabilities being developed CAD / CAE / PDM integration –Very rudimentary; CAD/CAE tools evolving; toolkits being developed Thermal Analysis for Space (STEP-TAS) –Broad acceptance; translators; viewers; more being developed

Challenges Multi-disciplinary capabilities Systems Engineering STEP / OMG interoperability –Essential for robust applications, “plug-and-play” –Data (STEP) and API (OMG) are inherently complementary –Coverage of data exchange, sharing, collaboration, and archiving Enterprise applications –XML is an important part of the solution –Also needed: high-level API’s and language interfaces (e.g. Python)

Integrated Master Model Multi-Disciplinary Capabilities: Multi-Disciplinary Capabilities: Model Integration and Systems Engineering Spacecraft X Master Model Discipline Model Mappings Mechanical (MCAD) Analysis (CAE) Electronic (ECAD) Systems Engineering Modularization Mappings ( Express-X, e.g.) Transformations AP 233AP 210AP 209AP 203

STEP Resources on the Web NASA STEP Central: the main NASA site for STEP information -- The NASA STEP Testbed: supporting NASA’s implementation of STEP -- Expresso for 95/NT (free download) -- Note: if interested in the Linux version of Expresso, contact Steve Waterbury PDES, Inc.: a government-industry consortium implementing STEP -- STEP On-Line Information Service (SOLIS) -- STEP On A Page (a capsule summary and current status of STEP) -- USPRO (U.S. Product Data Association), distributor for STEP documents -- The OMG Manufacturing Domain Task Force (MfgDTF): PDM Enablers, etc. --