P1076.1.1 Work Area

• Private area - restricted to working group roster members; login required

Scope of the Standard

This standard defines a collection of VHDL 1076.1 packages, compatible with IEEE Std 1076.1™, along with recommendations for conforming use, in order to facilitate the interchange of simulation models of physical components and subsystems. The packages include the definition of standard types, subtypes, natures, and constants for modeling in multiple energy domains (electrical, fluidic, mechanical, etc.) The packages are intended for use primarily in the modeling of multiple energy domain systems. The range of operation of the packages is not defined in this standard, but is intended to be valid across a wide range of disciplines and applications.

Purpose of the Standard

The definitions of IEEE Std 1076.1 allow users to build simulation models of physical components and subsystems that may belong to multiple energy domains (electrical, fluidic, mechanical, etc.). Such models are built upon sets of properties that are specific to each energy domain and encapsulated in so-called natures. IEEE Std 1076.1 provides a mechanism to define natures, but intentionally does not predefine any standard set of natures as it is expected that this would be done in a subsequent IEEE standard project. The definition of a standard set of natures is crucial to make possible the reuse and exchange of models written in VHDL 1076.1 within and among vendors.

Status of the Standard

The initial release of the standard (IEEE Std 1076.1.1-2004) has reached the end of its 5 year cycle after which reaffirmation or revision of the standard is required. Our goal is to integrate this standard into the 1076.1 standard as part of the next revision, but this will be too late for 1076.1.1 to remain valid. Therefore, a revision of the 1076.1.1 standard is required. The goal is to get this done quickly with a minimum number of changes, and deal with possible enhancements as part of the integration into the 1076.1 standard.

The revision of IEEE Std 1076.1.1 will entail the following:

• Change references to IEEE Std 1076.1-1999 to IEEE Std 1076.1 (without year)
• Add comments to package material_constants to clarify the units of the constants ambient_temperature, ambient_pressure, and ambient_illuminance.

The process from here is as follows:

1. The draft Project Authorization Request (PAR) must be approved by the Working Group. Approval of the draft PAR requires a majority of the voting members of the WG. - done on 12 August 2009
2. The draft PAR must be approved by the DASC, our parent organization. - done on 20 August 2009
3. The draft PAR must be approved by NesCom, the New Standards Committee of IEEE-SA. - done on 02 November 2009 Approved PAR
4. The revised draft standard must be approved by the WG. This approval requires a 75% majority of the voting members. - done on 16 May 2010
5. A balloting group is formed at IEEE-SA to ballot the revised standard. - done on 17 June, 2010. 22 balloters
6. The balloting group votes on approving the revised standard. A 75% approval rating is required, and all negative votes must be resolved. - done on 19 December, 2010. 21 votes returned, 20 affirmative, 1 abstention, no comments.
7. If necessary, a recirculation ballot is conducted. - not necessary.
8. The revised standard is submitted to the IEEE-SA RevCom for administrative approval. - approved by RevCom as IEEE Std 1076.1.1-2011 on 31 March, 2011
9. The revised standard is published by the IEEE. - completed 15 April, 2011
   

Errata

Package MATERIAL_CONSTANTS

The deferred constant AMBIENT_LUMINANCE should be named AMBIENT_ILLUMINANCE. Its unit is correctly described as lux.

Rationale

P1076.1.1 originally named this constant AMBIENT_LUMINANCE, without a unit. The error was discovered very late in the process of adopting the 2004 version of the standard, after the ballot had been completed, and it was treated as a typo to make the correction possible. Adding specifications of a unit was deemed to be a technical change, so this was clarified in an erratum for IEEE Std 1076.1.1-2004. Unfortunately, the name change wasn't propagated to the original text kept by the WG. When the units described in the erratum were added to the document during the 2011 revision, the editor was unaware of this issue, and the old and wrong name was left unchanged. The name will be fixed as part of integrating IEEE Std 1076.1.1 with P1076.1.