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SAE International

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SAE International (SAE), formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a professional organization for mobility engineering professionals in the aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicle industries. The Society is a standards development organization for the engineering of powered vehicles of all kinds, including cars, trucks, boats, aircraft, and others. Membership is open to the public for those particularly interested in Human Factors and Ergonomic Standards.[1]

History

In the early 20th century there were dozens of automobile manufacturers in the United States. Many of these manufacturers joined trade groups that allowed them to promote the industry and raise public awareness related to the automobile. A need for patent protection and the development of engineering standards emerged during this time.

Two magazine men of the era: Peter Heldt of The Horseless Age, and Horace Swetland of The Automobile advocated the creation of SAE. Heldt wrote an editorial in June 1902 in which he said, "Now there is a noticeable tendency for automobile manufacturers to follow certain accepted lines of construction, technical questions constantly arise which seek solution from the cooperation of the technical men connected with the industry. These questions could best be dealt with by a technical society. The field of activity for this society would be the purely technical side of automobiles." Likewise, Swetland used his editorial power to drum up support for the creation of an organization like SAE. Swetland went on to become one of the founding officers in the organization.

Starting out as the Society of Automobile Engineers in 1905, SAE's original purpose was to promote the use of standards in the nascent automobile industry (initially in the United States) and to promote the better interchange of ideas and expertise, in a similar manner to many other technical societies.

Although beginnings were modest with only 30 inaugural members (Andrew L. Riker was the inaugural president, and Henry Ford the inaugural vice-president), SAE's numbers grew steadily. Membership reached approximately 1800 by 1916, at which point the society expanded its mission to cover all forms of self-powered transport, including aircraft, boats, agricultural machinery, and others. The new word automotive (from Greek for autos, meaning "self" and from Latin for motivus, meaning "of motion") was coined by the Society to describe all self-powered vehicles, and the name was changed. Other notable supporters of the new organization included Thomas Edison, Glenn Curtiss, Glenn Martin, and Orville Wright.

Charles Kettering presided over SAE during World War I and saw membership pass the 5,000 mark. During this time, SAE emphasized the importance of developing member activity through local chapters - called Sections.

After World War II, the Society established links with other standards bodies and automotive engineering societies worldwide, and since then has founded sections in a number of countries formerly lacking such organizations, including: Brasil, India, China, Russia, Romania, and Egypt.

By 1980 membership had grown to 35,000+. And today more than a quarter of the Society's membership today is from outside of North America.[2]

Standards

SAE has established a number of standards used in the automotive industry and elsewhere.

Automobile standards

Automobile standards are the most familiar to the average American consumer, and include:

  • measuring automobile power in units of horsepower (SAE Net Horsepower), which has been generally followed in the USA since the early 1970s
  • motor oil classification standards
  • tool measurement sizes
  • Modern vehicles are equipped with a diagnostic system known as On-Board Diagnostics II (OBD II). If a malfunction occurs, a Check Engine Light will alert the driver who must scan the system for stored fault codes. These fault codes are known as SAE Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs).
    • SAE J1962 defines the pinout of the OBD II connector
    • SAE-J1850 defines one allowed protocol for the OBD II connector[3] (replaced by SAE-J2284 in 2008)
    • SAE-J2284 defines the specific version of the CAN bus used on the OBD II connector
    • SAE-J1939: Recommended Practice for a Serial Control and Communications Vehicle Network

Furthermore, SAE encourages the design of vehicles in accordance with established Human Factors principles. SAE is one of the most influential organizations with respect to Ergonomics work in Automotive Design. Human Factors and Ergonomic standards (Number: Title) published by SAE include the following:

Aerospace standards

Aerospace Standards (AS), Aerospace Recommended Practices (ARP), and Aerospace Information Reports (AIR) are guidelines for design and production of aircrafts and aircraft avionics systems:

  • Aerospace Standards (AS) apply to missile, airframe, ground-support equipment, propulsion, propeller, and accessory equipment.
  • Aerospace Recommended Practices (ARP) are recommendations for engineering practice.
  • Aerospace Information Reports (AIR) contain general accepted engineering data and information.

Well known SAE Aerospace standards include:

Conferences

SAE holds an annual conference and tradeshow, called SAE World Congress.[4] SAE also runs a biennial conference and tradeshow, called Convergence, on behalf of the Transportation Electronics Association.[5] The sociey holds many events focused on all facets of transportation.[6]

SAE has been the organizer for the International Conference on Environmental Systems, an annual technical conference focusing on manned space systems, since its inception through the 2009 conference.

Other Contributions

SAE holds 12 Collegiate Design Competitions - events challenge students to design and build functional vehicles in a competitive setting. These Design competitions host more than 4,500 students from 500 universities on every continent. SAE Colligate Design Contests include the following: Formula SAE, Formula Hybrid, SAE Aero Design, SAE Mini Baja, and SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge.

SAE strives to encourage and support the development of youth skills related to math and science in the communities which it serves. The SAE Foundation raises funds to support math/science programs primarily for grades 4 through 8. Furthermore, SAE has developed curriculum to supplement learning in public schools.

Controversy Over Access to SAE Database

In April 2007, MIT canceled its subscription to SAE because of required Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology implemented on its online technical papers. After much discussion, SAE International's Publications Board voted to remove the DRM restrictions on Oct. 31, 2007[7] for colleges, universities, and other academic institutions.

Upon the removal of the FileOpen DRM technology in November 2007, MIT Libraries re-subscribed to the SAE articles subscription service[8].

Publications

SAE International has been publishing technical information since 1906[9]. As well as the industry magazines that are published monthly—Automotive Engineering International[10], Aerospace Engineering and Manufacturing[11], Off Highway Engineering[12], Truck & Bus Engineering[13], SAE Vehicle Engineering[14], e-newsletters, and various journals[15]—SAE also produces the monthly Update[16] newsletter for its members and publishes more than 100 books a year. Ranging from compilations on various technical subjects, to textbooks, to historical and enthusiast-oriented books, SAE’s titles cater to a variety of readers.

More recently, SAE has redesigned its online bookstore[17] and will begin offering a selection e-books in August 2009.

Notable members

See also

References

  1. ^ Becoming a Member
  2. ^ SAE General History
  3. ^ http://www.auto-diagnostics.info/j1850
  4. ^ http://www.sae.org/congress/
  5. ^ http://www.sae.org/events/convergence/
  6. ^ http://www.sae.org/events/
  7. ^ http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showRelease&RELEASE_ID=647
  8. ^ http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/following-removal/1024/
  9. ^ http://store.sae.org/
  10. ^ http://www.sae.org/mags/aei/
  11. ^ http://www.sae.org/mags/aem/
  12. ^ http://www.sae.org/mags/sohe/
  13. ^ http://www.sae.org/mags/tbe/
  14. ^ http://www.sae.org/mags/sve/
  15. ^ http://store.sae.org/saejournals/
  16. ^ http://www.sae.org/update/
  17. ^ http://store.sae.org/

DTC

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