ISO 10303-51:2005

Overview

ISO 10303-51:2005 is Part 51 of the ISO 10303 family (STEP) and defines the Integrated Generic Resource: Mathematical representation for product data representation and exchange. Published 2005-10-15, this standard constrains and formalizes how mathematical concepts from ISO 10303-50 (mathematical value concepts) are applied within STEP data models. It ensures consistent interpretation of numbers, spaces and functions used to describe physical quantities, products, activities and states across industrial automation and product data exchange workflows.

Key Topics

• Constrained use of mathematical values: Specifies allowable uses of real and integer numbers as defined in ISO 10303-50.
• Numeric identification: A real or integer number can be used to identify instances such as a physical quantity, a product, an activity or a state.
• Mathematical space: Defines a mathematical space as the range of an identification function for a physical quantity space, or as a set of products, activities or states.
• Mathematical function representation: Describes how functions represent property variation over continuous or discrete domains (e.g., time-varying properties, parameterized geometries or discrete state maps).
• Integrated generic resource: Designed for reuse by other ISO 10303 parts to promote semantic interoperability and consistent data exchange.

Applications

ISO 10303-51 is practical for any organization or toolchain that needs precise, standardised mathematical semantics in product data exchange:

• PLM and CAD/CAM/CAE vendors implementing STEP-compliant data models for interoperable product data.
• Systems and software engineers building data exchange, validation or transformation tools that must preserve numerical meaning.
• Industrial automation integrators modeling physical quantities, state transitions or parameterized functions across systems.
• Standards implementers and data architects ensuring consistent interpretation of numeric identifiers, spaces and functions in multi-disciplinary digital threads.

Using ISO 10303-51 helps avoid ambiguity when numbers and functions are exchanged between engineering systems, improving data quality for simulation, manufacturing, maintenance and lifecycle management.

Related Standards

• ISO 10303-50 - defines core mathematical value concepts used and constrained by Part 51.
• ISO 10303 (STEP series) - broader family for product data representation and exchange; Part 51 is an integrated resource intended for reuse across STEP application protocols.

Keywords: ISO 10303-51, mathematical representation, STEP, product data exchange, integrated generic resource, mathematical value, mathematical function, physical quantity.