AP242 benchmark website: http://benchmark.ap242.org/

Rational

ASD SSG supports initiatives such as the STEP AP 242 benchmarks, which target to speed up the operational use of ISO 10303-242 (STEP AP242).

The goal of the STEP AP 242 benchmarks is to conduct a neutral testing and evaluation of STEP AP 242 software products on the market, in order to:

• Provide comprehensive results on the data quality of benchmarked products,
• Speed-up the adoption of STEP AP 242 in commercial products.

Principles of the STEP AP 242 benchmarks:

• Functionalities to be benchmarked are given by the user communities.
  
• Systems to be benchmarked are chosen by the user communities,
  
• Conducted tests are based on the principles of neutrality and completeness.
  
• Only those results are published which are confirmed by the respective IT vendors.
  

STEP AP242 applications become increasingly important for CAD and PDM interoperability in the manufacturing industries. Benchmarking activities are needed to apply quality control to AP242 based implementations.
Therefore, AFNeT and ProSTEP iViP decided to conduct the STEP AP242 Benchmarks and to support the user community that will drive the project, with the support of several industry associations (ASD SSG, GALIA, GIFAS, PFA, VDA) and manufacturers, for getting an independent assessment of COTS STEP AP242 interfacesSTEP AP242 (ISO 10303-242 “Managed model based 3D engineering”) has been published as “International
Standard” end of 2014.

The objective of this Benchmark was to provide a public status of STEP AP242 functionalities available for operational use, tested by the industry and to identify limitations of the tested PLM COTS AP242 applications.

The project was composed of two work packages:

• CAD work package managed by AFNeT;
• PDM work package managed commonly by AFNeT and ProSTEP iViP.

The organization of this Benchmark is based on the following principles:

• Business priorities defined by the industry stakeholders supporting the STEP AP242 Benchmark;
• AP242 interoperability functionalities already tested by the CAx-IF and PDM-IF;
• Tests based on STEP AP242 COTS solutions available on the market or on their way to be shipped to the industry.

This report published 15 March 2017 (available on AP242 Benchmark website) presents the test results of the PDM work package which cover the tests of the following AP242 PDM functionalities:

• Exchange of PDM Information using AP242 BO Model XML including Assembly Validation Properties;
• References to CAD and non-CAD documents;
• Management of changes.
  

The results show a good level of STEP AP242 BO XML implementation for PDM product structure exchange.

Most of in-scope PDM functionalities are robustly supported, except for the transfer of the benchmarked assembly validation properties. Concerning the conformity tests of the produced STEP files, most of the results are positive. As the Recommended Practices become more and more stable over time, it is expected that the results will also be improved in this area.
The use of international open standards for 3D Model Based interoperability is seen as a key enabler to support global Engineering and Manufacturing of complex products within the Extended Enterprise. It also contributes to ensure a better independence regarding PLM vendor’s proprietary formats, and long-term
preservation of 3D Model Based design. The availability of COTS STEP AP242 solutions for PDM data interoperability contributes to answer to this challenge.

STEP AP 242 benchmark N°1 (November 2014 –October 2015)

The first benchmark is organized by the AFNeT association, with the support of the GIFAS, GALIA, and ASD SSG. The tests are run at AFNeT, Paris.

The test cases in scope of the Benchmark n°1 are the following:

• 3D exact geometry,
• 3D tessellated geometry,
• PMI 3D exact geometry: PMI graphic polyline,
• PMI 3D exact geometry: PMI graphic tessellated,
• PMI 3D tessellated geometry: PMI graphic tessellated,
• Composite 3D implicit surfaces for each ply,
• CAD assembly: AIM P21 external references assembly + STEP tessellated geometry + compressed,
• CAD assembly: AIM P21 Nested (fully shattered) assembly + STEP exact geometry.
  

The list of CAD converter products selected for the Benchmark n°1 are the following:

• PTC - Creo Parametric 3.0 <=> AP 242,
• Dassault Systèmes - CATIA V5 (SXT V5-6R2014) <=> AP 242,
• Coretechnologie - 3D_Evolution NX Vx <=> AP 242 (For composite CATIA converter),
• Datakit - CrossCADWare  CATIA V5 <=> AP 242 and NX <=> AP242,
  
• Autodesk - Inventor 2016 Pro <= AP 242 (Import only).
  

Nota : Siemens PLM participation still pending.

Below is also the list of STEP AP 242 3D viewers products selected for the benchmark n°1:

• CoreTechnologie - 3D Analyser
• Dassault Systèmes - 3DLive
• Datakit - CrossManager STEP => PDF 3D
• Kisters - 3DViewStation
• Techsoft3D - 3D PDF Converter V4.2
  

Planning of next steps of the benchmark N°1

• Test phase in April – August 2015,
• Evaluation phase in July-August 2015,
• Publication phase in September 2015.
  

Summary: STEP AP 242 benchmark on a page:

 (Click to enlarge)