quote: When you say "enter data" is that data simply text describing specs of the part being marked?
Yes. There are several formats that are acceptable. Basically, the formats describe the data, field and record separators and then EoT (end of transmission). Here's a sample:
code: [)>~d030DD~d029MFR CAGE CODE~d029SER SERIAL NO~d030~d004
Really, for this particular format, a user would just have to concern themselves with the two data fields: CAGE CODE and SERIAL NO. Cage Code is the governments 'code' for assigning a number to each supplier. The 'serial number', of course is the serial number of a specific product. The user would only have to substitute their CAGE CODE for the text in the string "CAGE CODE" (I put in ABDEF for the CAGE CODE) and replace the SERIAL NO with the part serial number (123456), like this:
code: [)>~d030DD~d029MFR ABCDEF~d029SER 123456~d030~d004
The other stuff is constant and is used for identifying the data format and where fields start, stop and terminate.
The actual part information would be tied to the mfg and the serial number and would be used to look-up whatever information the government needed about that part. Even though, and this gets weird, the Data Matrix symbol can contain several thousand characters of data, they only use a small portion of that capacity. The Data Matrix symbol acts like a link or license plate to the real data, which is stored in a centralized data base somewhere.
Food for thought: Can you imagine assigning serial numbers and marking each individual rivet/bolt or nut of a military aircraft? Daunting task, I would think. Not that they WILL require this, but they might!
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