S1000D: Defined, Explained, and Explored

ByDigital Teacher Canvas

What is S1000D?

S1000D is the European standard of technical publications or technical documentation being followed in Aerospace since 1980, which uses CSDB, a Common source database which is used for preparing, managing, and publishing technical information for a warship, or Aerospace, or even Civil airlines too.

The first release of the S1000D Specification was in 1989 and in August 2019 the latest 5 Issue was release

 An airplane or ship is built with thousands of components, sub-components and navigation equipment, and many more. Hence, these components are supplied by many OEMs (Original equipment manufacturers). OEMs make the documents to their own standards. Each document and format is entirely different because all OEMs don’t maintain similar standards. At that point, the Technical Publications Specification Maintenance Group (TPSMG) was formed. They proposed a DM-based (Data Module) Based structure. TO manage these Data modules CSDB was maintained. (Database). Data Module is the standalone section of the document. For example, let’s assume that one data module is prepared on Operation of GPS and stored in CSDB, then whenever GPS operations are to be reproduced for different aircraft or different systems, simply that Data module can be copied and plugged.

In short, re-usability and the format used is XML, and tags are defined by the S1000D steering committee.

S1000D Basic Principle

  • Content or data  produced following the standard is in Data Module  
  • This  data module is the smallest and  self-contained content or data  unit within a technical publication
  • A data module must have sense and meaning when viewed without any supporting data other than images and diagrams
  • These  data modules will be  stored and managed in CSDB, Common Source Database.
  • Using this  CSDB  we can publish  output in a page-oriented or Interactive Electronic Technical Manual.
  • These Individual data modules are re-usable components and can be used repeatedly in an output. 

Benefits of S1000D

  • Re-usability of data hence reduces production cost
  • Standardization of data and naming conventions
  • Open source and non-proprietary
  • Good for legacy data conversion
  • Proper documentation and version control management
  • Zero printing cost and zero occupancies of space as no Hard copies are to be maintained. Achieved by reusing instead of recreating information each time it is required
  • Easily to maintain  and distribute:  Facilitates transfer of information and electronic output between systems very easily and conveniently
  • Multiple Vendor support
  • Fastest reference to operator or maintainer than traditional paper-based documents
  • Many different output forms can be generated from a single data source i.e. from CSDB we can generate IETM and also PDF format which can be used for printing if need be
  • Customized Output creation: Allows sub-sets of information to be generated to meet specific user needs and user levels.

S1000D USERS

  • Military
    • Air
    • Land
    • Maritime
    • International
  • Civil/commercial
    •  Aviation
    • Shipping
    •  Space
    •  Urban
    •  General technology

Others:

  • Manufacturer
  •  Integrator
  •  Supplier
  •  Suppliers of documentation
  • Technical service providers
  •  Software vendors

Common information sets provide following data: –

  • Crew/Operator information
  • Description and operation
  •  Maintenance information
  •  Wiring data
  •  Illustrated Part Data (IPD)
  • Maintenance planning information
  • Mass and balance information
  •  Recovery information
  •  Equipment information
  • Weapon loading information –
  •  Cargo loading information
  •  Stores loading information
  •  Role change information
  •  Battle damage assessment and repair information
  • Illustrated tool and support equipment data
  • Service bulletins
  • Material data
  • Common information and data
  •  Training
  •  List of applicable publications
  •  Maintenance checklists and inspections

S1000D Development with Code and Pixels

  • Having 8 years of experience in handling technical documentation, especially for defense, code and pixels has gained good knowledge on S1000D IETM development
  • Code and Pixels is associated with US based company in designing and development of S1000d documentation.
  • Code and pixels has well trained 50 + resources to handle S1000d projects.