No abstract

“Geometrical product specifications (GPS)—General Concepts—Part 2: Basic tenets, specifications, operators and uncertainties” (ISO/TS 17450-2:2002) was recently published by ISO TC 213 “Dimensional and geometrical product specifications and verification”. This document defines a number of new concepts that provide the underpinnings for a new generation of standards for geometrical product specifications and have the potential of revolutionizing how we think about specification and verification. It enhances the specification language by defining specifications as ordered sets of operations, a much richer language than the simplistic notion of tolerance zones. Additionally, it expands the concept of uncertainty from being something measurement related to being the universal currency for quantifying ambiguity in requirements, specifications and verifications. These new concepts present new opportunities and new challenges both to metrologists and to providers of metrology instrumentation. This paper explores some of these opportunities and challenges.

Over the last 2 years, ISO TC 213, the committee that publishes the ISO geometrical product specification (GPS) standards, has published about 35 standards, more than double the number of the preceding 4 years. This rapid development has brought many significant changes to the ISO-GPS system. The author is the chairman of that committee and gives an overview of the more important ones in this article. The work is now at a crossroad, where items that have been on the TC 213 work program for many years have been completed. This has allowed TC 213 to start new strategic initiatives that will guide the development of ISO-GPS standards over the next 8–10 years. This article will outline the two stages of the strategic plan, the changes to the ISO-GPS standards complex that is envisioned, and how it will impact the users of these standards; whether they are part of the specification community or the verification community.

No abstract

No abstract