CODATA Task Group
Digital Representation of Units of Measurement (DRUM)
Working to increase awareness, education, and implementation of digital unit representation across scientific communities.
Core Mission
The primary objective of the CODATA Digital Representation of Units of Measurement (DRUM) Task Group is to work with International Scientific Unions and Associations to increase awareness, educate, and enable scientific communities in the understanding and implementation of digital unit representation.
To ensure data is truly FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and ready for the age of intelligence, units of measurement must be represented in a consistent, machine-actionable format.
Key Mission Objectives
- Enable Cross-Domain Interoperability: Address the lack of clear, digital definitions for units in global data exchange, facilitating automated cross-disciplinary data integration.
- Bridge Digital Metrology: Align physical metrological frameworks with digital schemas, codes, and ontologies.
- Power AI & Machine Intelligence: Fuel AI systems, models, and agents with unambiguous, semantic unit data that prevents calculation failures and enables automated reasoning.
- Equip Scientific Communities: Empower scientific unions, publishers, and infrastructure organizations to integrate machine-actionable unit definitions directly into their databases, tools, and publications.
About the Group
DRUM acts as a vital bridge between scientific unions, standards bodies, metrologists, and software developers. We address the complexity of digital unit representation by coordinating community efforts and advocating for standardized solutions.
What the Group Does
- Expert Collaboration & Outreach: We bring together experts from metrology and technology within our working group, and actively participate in international, scientific, and data conferences to present on digital units and quantities.
- Advocacy & Action: We champion global policy and awareness campaigns, working alongside scientific publishers, data repositories, and international standards bodies to ensure units of measurement are fully machine-actionable and interoperable.
- Standards, APIs & Toolkits: We develop and promote open tools, digital APIs, and semantic standards to enable machine actionability and seamless data exchange.
- The DRUM Ambassadors Program: We collaborate with a network of Ambassadors nominated by International Scientific Unions to audit scientific datasets for digital interoperability and AI-readiness. Unions and organizations interested in nominating an Ambassador or getting involved can reach out to us at drum@codata.org.
Task Group Membership
DRUM brings together international experts in metrology, data standards, technology, and AI who are dedicated to solving unit representation challenges. The task group is open to anyone interested in contributing. If you want to get involved, please join the group or contact us at drum@codata.org.
- Diverse Expertise: Our members represent academic institutions, national metrology institutes, and international scientific organizations.
- Regular Rhythm: Meetings are held every couple of weeks, rotating across three regional time zones (Europe/Africa/West Asia, Americas, and East Asia/Oceania/Pacific) to ensure global participation.
Tools & Resources
To enable both human researchers and automated machine learning systems to seamlessly process physical quantities, DRUM indexes semantic registries and supports APIs that validate and align unit definitions.
- APIs & Data Services: Access the Fundamental Physical Constants API and knowledge base designed for AI systems and data science workflows.
- Digital Standards & Toolkits: Explore the SI Reference Point and key semantic unit ontologies including QUDT and UCUM.
- Publications & Guides: Consult the CODATA-DRUM implementation guide and landmark publications on machine-actionable metrology.