Overview
ISO/TS 23520:2025 - EQuipment eXchange (EQX) specifies an XML-based data format to exchange operational and calibration information for measurement equipment used in vehicle safety testing. The Technical Specification defines structure, character encoding, physical unit usage and accuracy rules to enable automated, interoperable exchange of equipment metadata between equipment manufacturers, calibration service providers, laboratories and requestors. The standard focuses on equipment and test metadata exchange and explicitly excludes test results/test documentation (see ISO/TS 13499).
Key Topics
- Data format and schema: EQX is an XML format with a defined XML Schema (EquipmentExchange.XSD) that prescribes elements, structure and allowed values.
- Character encoding: Uses Universal Coded Character Set (UCS) per ISO/IEC 10646; XML root “encoding” attribute must be set according to W3C XML rules.
- Physical units: Quantities should use SI units consistent with ISO 80000; any deviations must be explicitly declared using the element
PhysicalUnit.
- Numeric accuracy: Guidance on significant digits:
- Linear sensitivities (
Sensitivity) - at least five significant digits.
- Nonlinear sensitivities (
Sensitivity2 … Sensitivity5) - up to nine significant digits depending on ScalingMethod and application (examples reference ISO/TS 17242 and SAE J2517).
- Logical structure - three layers:
- Layer 1 (Equipment): Single- or multi-axis sensors and device details (e.g., sensor axis IDs, UUIDs, calibration history, wiring, offsets, attachments).
- Layer 2 (Channel group): Bundles of equipment with group-level calibration/certification info (categories like
TestBench or Dummy).
- Layer 3 (Test setup): Test metadata (title, test type, laboratory/customer data) and nested sensor/group definitions (
TestSetup).
- Header and metadata: Every EQX file contains header
FileInfo including creator, software, recipient and DataFormatEdition.
- Extensibility: Additional metadata carried as key/value pairs (
EqxAttribute); UUIDs allow referencing between elements.
- Related electronic documents: XML schema, sample data (EQX_sampledata.zip) and change history are provided as related electronic documents.
Applications
- Automating exchange of calibration and equipment metadata between calibration service providers, test laboratories and customers.
- Transferring equipment and channel group definitions when moving equipment between labs or test benches.
- Reducing manual data entry and errors by enforcing a common, machine-readable format for equipment operational info.
- Supporting vendors and tool vendors to implement interoperable import/export of equipment configurations and metadata.
Who should use it
- Equipment manufacturers and suppliers
- Calibration service providers
- Crash and impact testing laboratories
- Test system integrators and software developers handling test metadata
Related Standards
- ISO/TS 13499 - Multimedia data exchange format for impact tests (covers test results and descriptors)
- ISO/TS 17242 - Quasi-static calibration for belt force transducers (referenced for polynomial coefficient precision)
- SAE J2517 - Nonlinear chest potentiometer calibration guidance
Keywords: ISO/TS 23520, EQX, equipment exchange, data format, XML, vehicle safety testing, calibration metadata, laboratories, measurement equipment.