IEC 63278-1:2023

IEC 63278-1 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
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Asset Administration Shell for industrial applications –
Part 1: Asset Administration Shell structure

Enveloppe de Gestion d’Actif pour applications industrielles –
Partie 1: Structure de l’Enveloppe de Gestion d’Actif
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IEC 63278-1 ®
Edition 1.0 2023-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
colour
inside
Asset Administration Shell for industrial applications –

Part 1: Asset Administration Shell structure

Enveloppe de Gestion d’Actif pour applications industrielles –

Partie 1: Structure de l’Enveloppe de Gestion d’Actif

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 71.100.20  ISBN 978-2-8322-7679-2

– 2 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 5
INTRODUCTION . 7
0.1 General . 7
0.2 Overview on parts of the series . 7
0.3 Interoperability . 8
0.4 Key objectives of the Asset Administration Shell . 9
1 Scope . 10
2 Normative references . 10
3 Terms, definitions, abbreviated terms, and conventions . 10
3.1 Terms and definitions . 10
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 15
3.3 Conventions . 17
4 Conceptual framework . 17
4.1 General . 17
4.2 Asset Administration Shell and related entities . 17
4.2.1 General . 17
4.2.2 Detailed overview . 18
4.2.3 Asset . 19
4.2.4 AAS responsible . 20
4.2.5 AAS user application . 20
4.2.6 Asset Administration Shell . 20
4.2.7 AAS interface . 21
4.2.8 Submodel . 21
4.2.9 SubmodelElement. 22
4.2.10 Submodel template . 22
4.2.11 Submodel template element. 22
4.2.12 Concept repositories . 23
4.2.13 Asset integration . 25
4.2.14 Asset service . 25
4.2.15 Asset related services . 25
4.3 Life cycle aspects of assets and Asset Administration Shells . 26
4.4 Example for an overall Asset Administration Shell scenario . 28
5 Identifiers . 31
5.1 Needs . 31
5.2 Determination of identifiers . 31
5.2.1 General . 31
5.2.2 Globally distinct identifiers for concepts by IRDIs. 32
5.2.3 Globally distinct identifiers by URIs . 32
5.2.4 Local identifiers . 32
6 Asset Administration Shell structure . 33
6.1 General . 33
6.2 Requirements associated to Asset Administration Shell . 34
6.2.1 General . 34
6.2.2 Asset Administration Shell . 34
6.2.3 Submodel . 35
6.2.4 SubmodelElements . 36

6.2.5 AAS interface . 40
6.3 Requirements related to data exposure and information security . 41
6.3.1 Data exposure of Asset Administration Shell and its Submodels . 41
6.3.2 Requirements related to information security of Asset Administration
Shell in general . 42
6.3.3 Requirements related to the IEC 62443 series . 43
Annex A (informative) Relevant standards . 44
A.1 Possible sources for Submodels and Submodel templates . 44
A.1.1 General . 44
A.1.2 Different sets of concept definitions for SubmodelElements . 44
A.1.3 Existing international specifications that can be used as basis for
Submodel templates . 45
A.2 IEC 61360 dictionaries, classes and property types . 48
A.2.1 General . 48
A.2.2 Classes . 49
A.2.3 Property types and instances . 49
A.2.4 IEC Common Data Dictionary (IEC CDD) . 50
A.2.5 ECLASS . 51
A.3 IEC 61987 series classes and dictionary . 51
A.3.1 General . 51
A.3.2 Specific classes . 52
A.3.3 Dictionary . 53
A.4 IEC 62683 series classes and dictionary . 53
A.4.1 General . 53
A.4.2 Dictionary . 54
A.5 Digital Factory (IEC 62832 series) . 54
A.5.1 Introduction to Digital Factory . 54
A.5.2 Compatibility of the Digital Factory with the concept of Asset
Administration Shell . 57
A.6 AutomationML (IEC 62714 series) . 59
A.6.1 AutomationML overview . 59
A.6.2 AutomationML modeling concepts. 61
A.6.3 Interoperability of Asset Administration Shell supported by
AutomationML . 62
A.7 OPC UA . 63
A.7.1 OPC UA overview . 63
A.7.2 OPC UA Information Models . 65
A.7.3 Relationship between AutomationML and OPC UA . 66
Annex B (informative) Usage view of the Asset Administration Shell . 67
Annex C (informative) Security for industrial automation and control systems . 69
C.1 Security concepts from the IEC 62443 series . 69
C.2 Foundational requirements . 69
C.3 Security level . 70
C.4 Measures of defence for IACS . 70
Bibliography . 71

Figure 1 – Facets of interoperability according to ISO/IEC 21823-1 . 8
Figure 2 – Overview of Asset Administration Shell and related entities. 17
Figure 3 – Information exchange between AAS user applications . 18

– 4 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
Figure 4 – Detailed overview of Asset Administration Shell and related entities . 18
Figure 5 – Assets seen as type asset or instance asset . 19
Figure 6 – Example of different Asset Administration Shells associated to the same
asset. 21
Figure 7 – Example of different kinds of concept repositories referenced by
SubmodelElements . 23
Figure 8 – Top level concepts and relationships of "Capability for Industry Ontology" . 24
Figure 9 – Example of modelling by means of Asset Administration Shell . 25
Figure 10 – Example of asset integration, asset services and asset related services . 25
Figure 11 – Example of life cycle aspects of assets and Asset Administration Shells . 26
Figure 12 – Example of assets in product and production system life cycles . 27
Figure 13 – Example of Asset Administration Shell in product life cycle . 28
Figure 14 – Illustration of an example of an overall Asset Administration Shell scenario . 28
Figure 15 – Illustration of value exchange in overall scenario. 30
Figure 16 – Different identifiers for globally distinct identifiers and local identifiers . 32
Figure 17 – Example of an Asset Administration Shell demonstrating the general
structure . 33
Figure 18 – Illustration of different aspects of SubmodelElements . 36
Figure 19 – Asset Administration Shells of a representative assembly of electrical axes . 39
Figure 20 – AAS user application accessing AAS interfaces of Asset Administration
Shells . 41
Figure 21 – Asset Administration Shell security overview . 42
Figure A.1 – Example: Representation of a class tree in IEC CDD . 49
Figure A.2 – Simplified UML scheme of device, LOPs and aspects (see IEC 61987-11) . 52
Figure A.3 – Organization in blocks . 54
Figure A.4 – Structured asset class in the Digital Factory (see IEC 62832 series) . 55
Figure A.5 – Description of a structured asset that is composed of several assets . 56
Figure A.6 – Comparison of the approaches of the Digital Factory and Asset
Administration Shell . 57
Figure A.7 – Architecture of AutomationML . 60
Figure A.8 – CAEX concepts . 61
Figure A.9 – Relations between AutomationML elements . 62
Figure A.10 – OPC UA specification organization. 64
Figure A.11 – Component internal base mode . 65
Figure B.1 – Overview of usage view of the Asset Administration Shell [7] . 67
Figure C.1 – Foundational Requirements and Security Levels applicable for an Asset . 70

Table 1 – Examples for categorization of SubmodelElements . 38
Table A.1 – Examples of standards providing concept repository entries which can be
referenced by Submodel templates . 46
Table A.2 – Examples of standards providing potential sources of Submodel templates . 47
Table A.3 – Examples of standards providing reference models for Submodels . 48
Table A.4 – Example of representation of a property type with some attributes in
IEC CDD . 50
Table A.5 – Comparison of the individual concepts of Digital Factory (IEC 62832
series) and Asset Administration Shell . 58

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ASSET ADMINISTRATION SHELL FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS –

Part 1: Asset Administration Shell structure

FOREWORD
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rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
IEC 63278-1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 65: Industrial-process
measurement, control and automation. It is an International Standard.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
65/1012/FDIS 65/1027/RVD
Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.
This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in
accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available
at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are
described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.

– 6 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
A list of all parts in the IEC 63278 series, published under the general title Asset Administration
Shell for industrial applications, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the
specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
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INTRODUCTION
0.1 General
The production system life cycle focuses on the design, deployment, commissioning, operation
and decommissioning of an entire production facility. Product life cycle management is the
process of managing the entire life cycle of a product with the information flows and controls
from inception, through engineering design and manufacture, to service and end of life
treatment of manufactured products. The supply chain management is the management of the
flow of products and services and includes processes that transform raw materials and parts
components into final products, and it involves the streamlining of business activities to
maximize customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Each of these
dimensions intersects at the vertical integration of machines, plants, and enterprise systems in
the equipment hierarchy of an enterprise pyramid. The integration of manufacturing software
applications along each dimension and across dimensions helps to enable advanced controls
at the shop floor and optimal decision-making at the enterprise. Details of existing
manufacturing standards for each of the three life cycle dimensions are provided in [1] .
Several integration technologies have been individually put into practical use (e.g. CAD/CAM)
aiming to accelerate product innovation cycles, streamline supply chains, and increase
production system flexibility through information exchange between the dimensions. Details of
the integration technologies and capabilities supported by them are provided in [1].
The Asset Administration Shell (AAS) is seen as one interoperable manifestation of a digital
twin in manufacturing that facilitates tighter integration within and across the three dimensions
mentioned above.
This document is the first part of the series "Asset Administration Shell for industrial
applications". The multiple parts of the series will detail structure, information models, definition
of services and online interfaces, required security aspects and communication languages
including mapping contents of OPC UA and AutomationML models to the Asset Administration
Shell.
0.2 Overview on parts of the series
The current planning foresees parts covering the following topics:
• Asset Administration Shell structure (this document)
• information meta model (to allow to access standardized information)
• security provisions for Asset Administration Shells
• use cases and modelling examples
• interfaces to Asset Administration Shells
• communication language among sets of Asset Administration Shells
• specification of content of Asset Administration Shells for various domains
This part of IEC 63278 describes requirements towards the general structure, that each possible
Asset Administration Shell should comply with. In a following part of the series, this structure
will be developed further towards a meta-model of the Asset Administration Shell. Based on
these specifications, individual Asset Administration Shells can be created. These individual
Asset Administration Shells will be the actual containers of information and will provide
information and services with respect to the described asset.
___________
Numbers in square brackets refer to the Bibliography.

– 8 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
0.3 Interoperability
The Asset Administration Shell pursues the overall purpose to support interoperability of
software applications. According to ISO/IEC 21823-1, different facets for interoperability can be
considered (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 – Facets of interoperability according to ISO/IEC 21823-1
Semantic interoperability considers the meaning of the data model within the context of a
subject area so that it is understood by the participating software applications. The Asset
Administration Shell addresses semantic interoperability by associating well-known concepts to
the data, which is exchanged between the software applications.
Policy interoperability considers the compliance with the legal, organizational, and policy
frameworks applicable to the participating software systems. The Asset Administration Shell
addresses policy interoperability in the following way:
• The Asset Administration Shell provides uniform identity and access control management
including usage restriction for information and services of assets.
• The Asset Administration Shell enables uniform structuring of information and services of
assets. This allows the Asset Administration Shell to define and maintain the structure of
information and services of an asset and not the individual software applications. This
simplifies information management in manufacturing industries by both reducing the effort
and increasing the quality of information.
Transport interoperability considers the data transfer between software applications based on
an established communication infrastructure between the participating software applications.
This facet is not addressed in this part of the series but will be considered in further parts of the
series.
Syntactic interoperability considers the data format by which the exchanged information can be
understood by the participating software applications. This facet is not addressed in this part of
the series but will be considered in further parts of the series.
Behavioural interoperability considers the expected outcomes to interface operations. This facet
is addressed by the Asset Administration Shell in the sense that the Asset Administration Shell
provides a standardized interface to software applications. The concrete behaviour of this
standardized interface will be considered in further parts of the series.

0.4 Key objectives of the Asset Administration Shell
The following statements summarize these discussions and formulate some aims for the Asset
Administration Shell, helping to keep the focus:
• Asset Administration Shell aims at establishing cross-company interoperability.
Assets within manufacturing are provided by many different enterprises. In order to fulfil the
scenarios of today and tomorrow, information and services on assets should be
interoperable.
• Asset Administration Shell is intended for non-intelligent and intelligent products.
The concept of asset comprises many different entities, with or without the ability to
communicate actively or being intelligent. To leverage benefits in engineering, maintenance
or operation throughout all hierarchy levels, the idea of the Asset Administration Shell is
suitable to be applied by all assets.
• Asset Administration Shell aims at covering the complete life cycle of products, devices,
machines and facilities.
Much useful information on assets is formed in the early phase of their life cycle, such as
design, engineering and marketing. To maintain economic efficiency, digitized information
from these early phases should be preserved and used in later phases, such as engineering
higher level structures and operating and maintaining these structures.
• Asset Administration Shell aims at enabling integrated value chains.
Assets for manufacturing lines and products are provided by many different value chain
partners. To maintain economic efficiency, digitized information should be exchanged
among value chain partners. This will also enable advanced production modes (see 0.1).
• Asset Administration Shell is intended to be a base for autonomous systems and artificial
intelligence.
In the future, many benefits are expected from approaches such as autonomous systems
and artificial intelligence. These approaches require a sound basis of information and
identifiers of elements. The Asset Administration Shell provides both.

– 10 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
ASSET ADMINISTRATION SHELL FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS –

Part 1: Asset Administration Shell structure

1 Scope
This part of IEC 63278 defines the structure of a standardized digital representation of an asset,
called Asset Administration Shell (AAS). The Asset Administration Shell gives uniform access
to information and services.
The purpose of the Asset Administration Shell is to enable two or more software applications to
exchange information and to mutually use the information that has been exchanged in a trusted
and secure way.
This document focuses on Asset Administration Shells representing assets of manufacturing
enterprises including products produced by those enterprises and the full hierarchy of industrial
equipment. It defines the related structures, information, and services.
The Asset Administration Shell applies to:
– any type of industrial process (discrete manufacturing, continuous process, batch process,
hybrid production);
– any industrial sector applying industrial-process measurement, control and automation;
– the entire life cycle of assets from idea to end of life treatment;
– assets which are physical, digital, or intangible entities.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 62443 (all parts), Security for industrial automation and control systems
3 Terms, definitions, abbreviated terms, and conventions
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp

3.1.1
asset
entity owned by or under the custodial duties of an organization, which has either a perceived
or actual value to the organization
Note 1 to entry: An asset can be single entity, a collection of entities, an assembly of entities or a composition of
entities.
EXAMPLE 1 Examples for physical entities are equipment, raw material, parts components and pieces, supplies,
consumables, physical products and waste.
EXAMPLE 2 Software is an example of a digital asset.
EXAMPLE 3 A software license is an example of an intangible asset.
[SOURCE: IEC TR 63283-1:2022, 3.1.26, modified – the notes and example have been added]
3.1.2
Asset Administration Shell
AAS
standardized digital representation of an asset
3.1.3
AAS interface
interface of an AAS giving uniform access to information and services
EXAMPLE Examples for services are exploration services, asset services, and asset related services.
3.1.4
AAS responsible
individual or organization having interest in an asset and governing an Asset Administration
Shell
3.1.5
AAS user application
software application which accesses an AAS via its AAS interface(s) for use by humans or for
automatic processing
3.1.6
asset integration
software or computing infrastructure, or both, needed to access asset services
3.1.7
asset service
service that is provided by the considered asset
3.1.8
asset related service
service that is not provided by the considered asset, but by the software or computing
infrastructure, or both, outside of the considered asset
3.1.9
component
product used as a constituent in an assembled product, system or plant
[SOURCE: IEC 61666:2010+AMD1:2021 CSV, 3.6)

– 12 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
3.1.10
concept
unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics
[SOURCE: IEC 61360-1:2017, 3.1.8]
3.1.11
concept repository
collection of entries that allows lookup by concept identifier and where relationships between
entries can be described
[SOURCE: IEC 62832-1:2020, 3.1.5, modified – in the term "concept dictionary" has been
replaced with “concept repository”, in the definition “concept dictionary” has been deleted after
“collection of”, the second part of the definition, starting with “and where…” has been added
and the note has been deleted]
3.1.12
concept repository entry
description of a concept containing, at a minimum, an unambiguous concept identifier, a
preferred name, and a description
[SOURCE: IEC 62832-1:2020, 3.1.6, modified – in the term, “dictionary” has been replaced with
“repository” and in the definition, “definition” has been replaced with “description”]
3.1.13
digital representation
information and services representing an entity from a given viewpoint
EXAMPLE 1 Examples of information are properties (e.g. maximum temperature), actual parameters (e.g. actual
velocity), events (e.g. notification of status change), schematics (electrical) and visualization information (2D
drawings, 3D drawing).
EXAMPLE 2 Examples of services are asset services (for example providing the history of the configuration data or
providing the actual velocity) and asset related services (for example providing a simulation).
EXAMPLE 3 Examples of viewpoints are mechanical, electrical, or commercial characteristics.
3.1.14
end of life treatment
operation after a waste has been handed over to a facility for product and product part reuse,
material recycling, energy recovery and residue disposal
Note 1 to entry: This includes dismantling, material separation and disposal.
SOURCE: IEC TR 62635:2012, 3.3, modified – insertion of Note 1 to entry]
3.1.15
entity
thing (physical or non-physical) having a distinct existence
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 20924:2021, 3.1.18]

3.1.16
industrial sector
grouping based on similar production processes, similar products, similar activities or similar
behaviour in financial markets
EXAMPLE Examples are as follows. Health care technology, Environment–Health protection–Safety, Metrology and
measurement–Physical phenomena, Testing, Mechanical systems and components for general use, Fluid systems
and components for general use, Manufacturing engineering, Energy and heat transfer engineering, Electrical
engineering, Electronics, Telecommunications-Audio and video engineering, Information technology, Image
technology, Precision mechanics-Jewellery, Road vehicles engineering, Railway engineering, Shipbuilding and
marine structures, Aircraft and space vehicle engineering, Materials handling equipment, Packaging and distribution
of goods, Textile and leather technology, Clothing industry, Agriculture, Food technology, Chemical technology,
Mining and minerals, Petroleum and related technologies, Metallurgy, Wood technology, Glass and ceramics
industries, Rubber and plastic industries, Paper technology, Paint and colour industries, Construction materials and
building, Civil engineering, Military affairs-Military engineering-Weapons, Domestic and commercial–equipment-
Entertainment–Sports.
3.1.17
interface
shared boundary between two entities defined by functional characteristics, signal
characteristics, or other characteristics as appropriate
3.1.18
interoperability
capability of two or more entities to exchange items in accordance with a set of rules and
mechanisms implemented by an interface in each entity, in order to perform their respective
tasks
EXAMPLE 1 Examples of entities include devices, equipment, machines, people, processes, applications, software
units, systems and enterprises.
EXAMPLE 2 Examples of items include information, material, energy, control, assets and ideas.
3.1.19
instance asset
specific asset that is uniquely identifiable
EXAMPLE Examples of instance assets are material, a product, a part, a device, a machine, software, a control
system, or a production system.
3.1.20
property instance
information consisting at least of the identifier of a property type and a property value
Note 1 to entry: The concept of type and instance applies to properties. If omitted, the term property refers to
property types.
Note 2 to entry: The property instances have a value which can be provided by the manufacturer or another partner
in the value chain. Sometimes, a property instance exists without a specific value, e.g. giving an existential statement.
Note 3 to entry: A property instance is called property-value pair in certain standards or data element in other
standards.
3.1.21
property type
defined parameter suitable for the description and differentiation of products
Note 1 to entry: The concept of type and instance applies to properties. If omitted, the term property refers to
property types.
Note 2 to entry: The property types are defined in dictionaries (like IEC Common Data Dictionary or ECLASS), and
they do not have a value. The property type is also called data element type in some standards.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC Guide 77-2:2008, 2.18, modified – “type” was added to the term, the notes
have been deleted and replaced with new notes]

– 14 – IEC 63278-1:2023 © IEC 2023
3.1.22
role
set of characteristics that distinguish an entity’s ability to exhibit a set of required behaviours
[SOURCE: ISO 18435-1:2009, 3.22]
3.1.23
service
distinct part of the functionality that i
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