A categorical model for uncertainty and cost management within the Geometrical Product Specification (GPS) framework

In the last years ISO has been transforming the technical language for Geometrical Product Specification and Verification (GPS) through a framework of new standards. The aim of GPS standards is to achieve an information system able to preserve information consistency, to recognize and evaluate uncertainties, when these arise, and to enable their management in economic terms. In order to encapsulate the uncertainty-based product management envisaged by GPS standards, we propose a categorical data model which integrates different approaches for uncertainty estimation, a decision rule based on uncertainty, and a cost evaluation engine. The modelling technique has been detailed for the case of flatness verification and has been implemented in a software demonstrator with an object-oriented programming language. The result is an innovative tool able to use the concept of uncertainty for budgeting. A further novelty, for the proposed approach, is represented by its ability to exploit the valuable know-how of companies in order to develop, from experimental results, predictive capabilities which can be used for improving design of verification processes as well as allowing a responsible definition of geometrical specifications.