GB/T 16679.1-2024 Industrial systems, installations and equipment and industrial products - Designation of signals - Part 1: Basic rules
1 Scope
This document provides rules for the composition of designations for the identification of signals and signal connections. This includes the designation of power supply.
This document is applicable to all types of signals within an industrial system, installation and equipment and industrial products. It deals with the information aspect of signals and not with their physical implementation.
Excluded from the scope are general rules for the presentation of information in human machine interfaces. This document is also not applicable for the identification of wiring, terminals, piping and other hardware connections.
Note: For the purpose of marking of wires, see IEC 62491.
This horizontal standard is primarily intended for use by technical committees in the preparation of standards in accordance with the principles laid down in IEC Guide 108.
One of the responsibilities of a technical committee is, wherever applicable, to make use of horizontal standards in the preparation of its publications. The contents of this horizontal standard will not apply unless specifically referred to or included in the relevant publications.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 80000-9 Quantities and units - Part 9: Physical chemistry and molecular physics
IEC 61082-1 Preparation of documents used in electrotechnology - Part 1: Rules
Note: GB/T 6988.1-2008, Preparation of documents used in electrotechnology - Part 1: Rules (IEC 61082-1:2006, IDT)
IEC 62720 Identification of units of measurement for computer-based processing
IEC 81346-1 Industrial systems, installations and equipment and industrial products - Structuring principles and reference designations - Part 1: Basic rules
Note: GB/T 5094.1-2018, Industrial systems, installations and equipment and industrial products - Structuring principles and reference designations - Part 1: Basic rules (IEC 81346-1:2009, IDT)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
object
entity treated in a process of development, implementation, usage and disposal
Note 1: The object may refer to a physical or non-physical “thing”, i.e. anything that might exist, exists or did exist.
Note 2: The object has information associated with it.
[SOURCE: IEC 81346-1:2022, 3.1, modified]
3.2
information object
fixed and structured amount of information that can be managed and interchanged as a unit amoung users and systems
Note 1: This unit need not be human perceptible. Information objects are often stored as data.
Note 2: “Users” refers in this definition to users of information and “systems” refers to systems managing information and documentation.
3.3
data object
collection of data that has an agreed grouping between the sender and the receiver and can be identified as a complete entity
[SOURCE: ISO 21549-7:2024, 3.4]
3.4
signal
agreed representation of an information object conveyed among objects
Note 1: The agreed representation is a data object. The information object can be used to express a binary state or analogue variable or have a more complex structure.
Note 2: The representations of the information object e.g. potential level, current level, data format, protocol, etc., are conveyed in a suitable signal connection medium.
Note 3: Complex information objects usually need a number of successive conversions until they reach a representation suitable for transfer in a signal connection medium.
Note 4: The agreement between sender(s) and receiver(s) is necessary in order to generate and interpret the representation correctly. In simple cases it is implicit, in other cases it has to be explicitly specified as a protocol, etc.
Note 5: The representations of the information object can be conveyed directly from source to destination (synchronous communication) on the signal connection medium, or intermediately stored (by the sender) in a place where the intended receivers can get them (asynchronous communication).
3.5
signal name
identifier of the information object represented by a signal
3.6
signal designation
unambiguous identifier of a signal within a system
3.7
object designation
identifier of a specific object in a given context
Examples: Reference designation, type number, serial number, name.
[SOURCE: IEC 61355-1:2008, 3.13]
3.8
reference designation
identifier of a specific object formed with respect to the system of which the object is a constituent, based on one or many aspects of that system
[SOURCE: IEC 81346-1:2022, 3.11, modified]
3.9
signal connection
established communication path between different objects used for transmission of signals
Note: A signal connection uses one signal connection medium only. Change of medium takes place in the objects.
3.10
signal connection network
signal connections that transfer the same information object
Note: A signal connection network can use different media.
3.11
signal connection identifier
identifier of a specific signal connection
Note: The term for this definition was formerly "signal variant", which is now deprecated.
3.12
signal connection medium
(physical) medium on which the signal is transported from one (physical interface) point to another
Examples: Electric wire, optic fibre, space.
3.13
signal carrying medium
physical quantity or data transfer protocol used to transfer the signal
Examples: Current, potential, bus protocol.
3.14
domain
distinguished part of an abstract or physical space where something exists
3.15
signal name domain
domain in which signal names are unambiguously distinguished
3.16
signal presentation
means of communicating an information object in human-interpretable form
3.17
signal class
group of signals defined in accordance with a classification scheme based on the purpose of the signals
3.18
signal class code
coded designation of a signal class
3.19
signal connection characteristics
optional description of technical characteristics of the signal connection
Note: The term for this definition was formerly "additional information", which is now deprecated.
4 Basic principles
4.1 General principles on signal transfer and signal naming
Signals are representations of information objects that are exchanged among objects. Normally a signal has one source and one or many destinations (see Figure 2).
