Archiving, Design Models and Standards

The last twenty years has seen an accelerating transition to model-based design. However, to meet FAA and EASA requirements on aircraft certification, companies need to be able to sustain the design for the life of the aircraft. The use of standards can aid this considerably, with informations standards such as STEP (ISO 10303) being used to migrate design models between software versions and the STEP PDM schema providing the context, linking the data to the key Configuration Management standard EIA 649. The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) is also a key reference for understanding archiving. The LOTAR project - a joint Europe/US lead project since 2002 - has taken OAIS and applied it to the aerospace industry, developing specific guidance on using standards such as STEP to help sustain design data. The presentation will explain why a combination of standards is needed, and how LOTAR fits them together into a comprehensive approach to design sustainment. The presentation complements a recent SAE Book "Model Archiving and Sustainment for Aerospace Design".