Glossary · Semantic interoperability and information models
Concept description
Also known as: ConceptDescription
German: Konzeptbeschreibung
In the Asset Administration Shell, a concept description is an element that defines the meaning of a property or other submodel element, for example with a preferred name, definition, unit and data type according to IEC 61360, and that is referenced through a semantic ID.
- Information models
- Standards
In one sentence
In the AAS, a concept description defines the meaning of a property, with name, definition, unit and data type, referenced via semantic ID.
Example
The concept description for rated voltage gives its preferred name, a definition, the unit volt and the data type, and all AAS properties referring to it share this meaning.
How it applies
- Engineering: Most concept descriptions come from external dictionaries such as ECLASS or the IEC Common Data Dictionary, so that the meaning is shared across companies. Company-specific concepts are defined only where no suitable entry exists.
- Integration: A receiving system can look up the concept description to know how to interpret a value, including its unit.
- Documentation: Concept descriptions are definitions in the terminological sense. Terminology management and concept descriptions should agree, so that the term in a manual and the property in an AAS mean the same thing.
Concept description vs. property
A property is a data element holding a value for a specific asset, such as 24 V. A concept description defines what that property means for all assets that use it.