SI Digital Framework - Grand Vision 2020-09-25
CIPM Task Group “Digital-SI” and Expert Group
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analysis. With this respect, the SI - existing for more than one century - might be considered
an exemplar of interoperability principles for data. The envisioned framework encompasses
foundational (core) models for SI based data representation, digital services and tools, and
data stewardship and management activities, providing SI data and information that is
transparent to (authorized) users and machines.
The framework will allow more information to be represented digitally, not only measurement
results, but also the system being measured, how the measurements were made, and the
workflow (data, models, software) associated with establishing the measurement results. The
framework will increase the level of machine readability from basic capabilities to full machine-
actionable knowledge representation. This machine-actionable information will allow the
provenance, traceability and fitness-for-purpose of datasets to be assessed by users and
machines and enable the application of knowledge reasoning, machine learning and artificial
intelligence tools to be applied to create new knowledge.
It is envisaged that a sustainable framework for the SI in a digital world (SI Digital Framework)
supporting provenance will be composed of various data, services and tools aligned with the
FAIR principles. In the nearer term, it will cover:
● Interoperable data and metadata models for quantities and SI units
● Digital representation of (the knowledge encoded in) key reference documents:
the SI Brochure, the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM), the Guide of the
Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM)
● Establish high quality, open access points to all relevant data, services and tools
where their qualities are regularly controlled and verified, including the Key
Comparison Database (CMC lists), JCTLM database
● Adoption of digital calibration certificates as key for traceability in metrological data
In the longer term:
● Digital representation of measurement procedures, measurement workflows,
analysis methods, provenance and traceability chains, that allows machines to
access and act upon this information with little or no human intervention.
● Especially digital representation of key comparison and interlaboratory comparison
● Embed the SI Digital Framework in cyber-physical systems, e.g. sensor networks,
Internet of Things environments, autonomous systems, and establish traceability
at point of measurement.
The development of the SI Digital Framework will benefit from the following activities:
● National Metrology Institutes (NMIs), the RMOs and the CIPM/BIPM engaging with
the science community initiatives for FAIR data through active participation and
collaboration on the national, the regional (e.g. EURAMET with the European Open
Science Cloud) and international level (e.g. the Research Data Alliance (RDA),
CODATA, GO FAIR, the Allotrope Foundation, or the ISC), respectively.
● The NMIs and the CIPM/BIPM establishing mechanisms and incentives for long-
term support, investments and continuous development of SI Digital Framework
data, services and tools in the NMIs and the BIPM, and international data quality