Purpose
To promote the development of an international standard for the
electronic exchange of mass properties data.
Objectives
The principal objective for this web page is to provide a forum for the
exchange of ideas and information on the Mass Properties Exchange (MPEX) format. Near
term objectives are to present the recommendations made for the proposed
standard and to track its development status.
MPEX Paper (Original / Revised)
This technical paper presents the rational for creating a standard mass
properties data format and gives baseline recommendations for the its implementation. The
original paper was presented at the 1996 International Conference on Mass Properties
Engineering sponsored by the Society of Allied Weight Engineers. A revised
version of this paper was prepared for the 2001 International Conference. Please read
it for the latest information on the MPEX format.
Status
The original technical paper given above was presented in the Computer
Applications session of the 1996 conference. The ideas and recommendations presented were
well received and most in attendance agreed that developing such a standard would be
a worth while endeavor for the SAWE to pursue. The author of the paper was asked to
head a committee to pursue this goal.
This web page and its contains were presented at the 1997 International
SAWE Conference. The members present gave there support of the approach. It was felt that
the MPEX format could be covered by the Recommended Practice Policy established by the
Society. The current specifications of the MPEX format have been assembled into the web
page given below.
The recommendations given in the earlier paper have been unilaterally
adopted in the current version of the MPEX format specifications. The paper was rewritten
to comply with the format used for Recommended Practices. It was hoped that all
members would have a chance to review this web page prior to the 1998 International SAWE
Conference. However, due to its late posting (a few days before the conference), this is
extremely unlikely. Members of our society were encourage to review its content prior to
the 1999 conference.
In the past couple of years I've continue to refine the MPEX approach
and have presented it at various SAWE regional and the international conferences but
progress on getting an accepted standard has somewhat stagnated due to lack of interest.
However, I continue to see the benefit of its use in applications that I've work with and
still believe that we on the right path with respect to creating this standard.
I was not able to attend the international conference in June of 2001
because of some last minute matters that came up. I had intended to present the revised
version of the paper at the conference. As part of the presentation I had hoped to
incorporate a discussion on the relevance of XML to what we are working to accomplish. The eXtensible Markup Language is fast becoming the standard for exchanging information
between computer applications and platforms. It is becoming apparent that mass properties
should also be exposed to this approach. The work that has gone into creating the MPEX
format to date has a sound design and will serve as the basis of things to come in the
future. I encourage you to use it to exchange mass property data.
The
MPEX format continues to be adopted by more organizations. One of them
recently pointed out a problem in the documentation. This latest update
corrects an error in the definition for the ENTRIES data set. The entry
inertias are always given about the CG of the entry not about its origin
as previously stated.
MPEX Format Specification (Review Edition - May 2005)
This web page gives the current version of the Recommended Practice for
the MPEX format specification. It is now ready for final reviews. Please review its
contents and forward your comments and suggestions to
Jerry Fleck (correct
E-mail address by removing the X character).
