NIST PSL

AIAI is a collaborator on the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Process Specification Language (PSL) project. NIST has been involved in the definition of a neutral representation of product data, most recently realized through the STEP standard. With that effort well underway, another candidate area for a division focus is the representation of manufacturing process. Like product data, process data is also used throughout the life cycle of a product, from early indications of manufacturing process flagged during design, through process planning, validation, production scheduling and control. In addition, the notion of process also underlies the entire manufacturing cycle, coordinating the workflow within engineering and shop floor manufacturing.

The NIST PSL project undertakes to define a neutral representation (a language) for process which could be used for the sharing of process data among all of the functions identified above.

The NIST PSL effort was adopted as the ISO 18629 standard for Industrial automation systems and integration - Process specification language.

More information is available at the NIST PSL Pages.

The NIST PSL Core Theory is described here.

Steve Polyak and Austin Tate (1997), Analysis of Candidate PSL Process/Plan Representations, AIAI-PR-66, Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute (AIAI), Edinburgh. [PDF Format ]

Steve Polyak and Stuart Aitken (1998) , Manufacturing Process Interoperability Scenario, AIAI-PR-86, Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute (AIAI), Edinburgh. [ PDF Format ]