About

This is the Web presence of the Research Data Alliance Persistent Identification of Instruments Working Group (WG).

The aim of this Web page is to provide a single point of entry to information and resources related to the WG.

Measuring instruments, such as sensors used in environmental science, DNA sequencers used in life sciences or laboratory engines used for medical domains, are widespread in most fields of applied sciences. The ability to link an instrument with its model and the broader context in which the instrument operates, including generated data, other instruments and platforms, people and manufacturers, etc., is critical, especially for automated processing of such contextual information and for the interpretation of generated data.

The WG is now in maintenance mode. It started its activities at RDA Plenary 11 in March 2018. The group wrapped-up at Plenary 14 on October 2019. Thereafter, we published serveral deliverably, specifically: The Journal Article published with Data Science Journal in May 2020, which became an RDA Supporting Outputs in July 2020; the PIDINST White Paper first published in August 2020; and the Metadata Schema endorsed by RDA as a Recommendation in March 2022.

You can find us on Twitter @pidinst.