As recent as April 1999, the International Organization for Standards (ISO) voted to accept STEP AP 210 as an International Standard. After seven (7) long years in development, numerous government contracts performing testing and validation and countless hours contributed by the developers from a number of fortune 500 companies, AP 210 has become a standard. AP 210 is the STEP Application Protocol representing the design of electronic assemblies, their interconnection and packaging, Printed Wiring Assemblies (PWAs) and Printed Wiring Boards (PWBs) if you will. Companies, including Rockwell Collins Inc., The Boeing Company, Delphi-Delco Electronic Systems, the Naval Supply Systems Command RAMP Program Office, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, International Business Systems, in additional to numerous other PDES, Inc. member companies have supplied extensive resources to the developmental effort. These companies contributed to ensure the successful completion of the standard and that AP 210 would support their needs now and long into the future.

This paper/presentation will provide an overview and tutorial of the STEP Application Protocol for Electronic Assembly Interconnect and Packaging Design (AP 210). Discussion will include the scope and content of the standard.

Bio

Thomas R. Thurman is a Principal Engineer, for the Engineering and Technology Division at Rockwell Collins. He is responsible for the requirements analysis, activity and information model development using ISO 10303 international standards and the technical interchange with other standards in support of STEP AP210 and CAD/CAE translator development at Rockwell Collins. Prior to these job responsibilities, Mr. Thurman was the Principle Engineer in the design, development and implementation of an integrated CAE/CAD system utilizing Racal-Redac's Visula printed circuit layout and schematic editors, HHB's, CADAT digital simulator, Analogy's SABER simulator and Pacific Numerix' printed circuit thermal analysis. Throughout his 28 years career with Rockwell Collins, Mr. Thurman has been responsible for long range planning for automation of design and test processes, vendor development planning and central database definition. Mr. Thurman received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from St. Louis University.

Gregory L. Smith is an Associate Technical Fellow with Boeing Space & Communications Group in Seattle Washington. For the past 21 years he has been developing software tools for engineering in the Electronics Design Automation arenas. He was the software director and architect for the NIST sponsored Pre-Competitive Advanced Manufacturing Processes (PreAmp) program and the DARPA sponsored Team Integrated Electronics Response (TIGER) program. Both the PreAmp and TIGER contracts focused on integrating STEP Application Protocols (AP210, AP220 and AP203) into the PWA environment. Greg has received numerous awards and commendations for his work including; the ComputerWorld Object Application Award for "Best use of Object Technology in an Enterprise Environment" (1994, 1995 and 1997) and the Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Award (1990). Greg holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.