Articles – Page 17 – Cal Lab Magazine

Microwave Network Analyzers: A Discussion of Verification Methods

October 16, 2020 Office

by Ronald Ginley Volume 6:5, Sep-Oct 1999 Verification of Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs) is very important to the measurement process as well as to establish confidence in the uncertainty of the system. This paper presents […]

Redefined but Not Perfected: The On-going Saga of the Kilogram

July 28, 2020 Office

by Patrick J. Abbott The International Prototype Kilogram (IPK) realized the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) for over 130 years. On May 20, 2019, all fundamental quantities of the SI […]

Thru-Reflect-Line (TRL) Calibration

July 28, 2020 Office

by Brian Walker Calibration methodology for Vector Network Analysis has evolved over the years. The first calibrations were simple normalizations. Later, with a better understanding of the systematic errors a calibration methodology involving the measurements […]

Verifying the Integrity of S-Parameter Measurements

July 28, 2020 Office

by Christopher L. Grachanen Vector Network Analyzers (VNA) are used to measure a variety of RF parameters such as transmission loss, reflection loss, phase and group delay for a variety of passive RF devices and […]

Choosing the Proper Measurement Tool

April 30, 2020 Office

by Joseph P. Fuehne, Ph.D., P.E. The Purdue Polytechnic Institute in Columbus utilizes metrology tools with targeted measurement artifacts, which may be 3-D printed or machined, to facilitate learning and provide opportunities to demonstrate competency […]

Converting a mV/V Load Cell Signal into Engineering Units

April 30, 2020 Office

by Henry Zumbrun One might read the headline and think why is mV/V or a calibration curve relevant to me or my instrumentation? If you use load cells or other instrumentation that are calibrated using […]

A Unified Formula for Uncertainty Estimation in Interlaboratory Studies and Key Comparisons

January 27, 2020 Office

By Hening Huang A variety of statistical methods are available for estimating consensus values in interlaboratory studies (including key comparisons). These methods, although developed based on different approaches and ranging from simple to complex, produce […]

Cost and Accessibility of Metrology, Calibration, Testing, and NDT Training

January 27, 2020 Office

By Dennis Destefan and William Hinton It is well accepted in the metrology community that industry does not have a sustainable source of trained calibration professionals. We explore the availability of metrology-related training and its […]