MSC panels discuss critical calibration standards
Measurement Science Conference, February 27-March 3, Anaheim, CA, www.msc-conf.com.
Martin Rowe, Senior Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 3/7/2006 11:26:00 AM
Three of the panel discussions at the 2006 Measurement Science Conference covered updates to critical calibrations standards. T&MW's senior technical editor Martin Rowe attended discussions on the RP-1 and Z540 standards.
| Read more from the 2006 Measurement Science Conference, "Engineers get critical standards updates at MSC." |
Wyatt talked about some of the issues that have come up since the 1996 RP-1 revision. For example, it's now possible to perform complex analysis on large data sets that were impossible to do 10 years go, simply because of the improvement in inexpensive computer power. As a result, the next revision of RP-1 will require and recommend that calibration labs keep more data on an instrument's calibration result and history. Wyatt also cited changes to the documents to make them more user friendly. For example, the next revision will replace text with bar charts where applicable. Furthermore, the next revision will discourage the use of some existing methods for calculating calibration intervals because today's computing power makes the more sophisticated methods feasible.
In the Z540 panel session, "Calibration Requirements for M&TE, The Revision of ANSI/NCSL Z540-1," Paul Nelson of Raytheon discussed the current standard (Z540.1) and the proposed new standard, Z540.3. The new revision sets out to control access to an instrument's calibration constants by forcing manufacturers to lock out users from the calibration data. It will also address nonconforming equipment such as damaged instruments.
