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Quality Assured Measurement pp 67–102Cite as

Ensuring Traceability

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Part of the book series: Springer Series in Measurement Science and Technology ((SSMST))

Abstract

This chapter deals with traceability and comparability: the first of the two major hallmarks of metrology (quality-assured measurement). (The second hallmark—uncertainty—is covered in the final chapters of the book.)

Metrological traceability through calibration enables the measurement comparability needed, in one form or another, to ensure entity comparability in any of the many fields mentioned in the first lines of Chap. 1. The “Zanzibar” parable, illustrating the concept of measurement comparability, recalled in this chapter, captures the essence of the concept of trueness, that is, what defines being “on target” when making repeated measurements in the “bull’s eye” illustration of measurement accuracy. Examples of circular traceability in measurement are more common than one would hope.

Despite its importance, international consensus about traceability of measurement results—both conceptually and in implementation—has yet to be achieved in every field. Ever-increasing demands for comparability of measurement results needed for sustainable development in the widest sense require a common understanding of the basic concepts of traceability of measurement results at the global level, in both traditional and new areas of technology and societal concern.

The present chapter attempts to reach such a consensus by considering in depth the concept of traceability, in terms of calibration, measurement units and standards (etalons), symmetry, conservation laws and entropy, in a presentation founded on quantity calculus. While historically Physics has been the main arena in which these concepts have been developed, it is now timely to take a broader view encompassing even the social sciences, guided by philosophical considerations and even politics. At the same time as the International System of Units is under revision, with more emphasis on the fundamental constants of Physics in the various unit definitions, there is some fundamental re-appraisal needed to extend traceability to cover even the less quantitative properties typical of measurement in the social sciences and elsewhere.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    German: ’Sachgrösse = Objektgrösse (mit Objektbindung behaftete Grösse). Sie hat Quantität, die aber unbestimmt bleibt, sie hat Sachbezug (Objektbezug)’ Fleischmann (1960).

  2. 2.

    Chapter 5 contains a description of how to test these assumptions.

  3. 3.

    Note however that there is no explicit reference in Eq. (3.2) to which object/entity is being measured, but rather to a certain kind of quantity.

  4. 4.

    This assumes of course that the necessary separation of object and instrument can be performed for the measurement system at hand (Sect. 3.1.2).

  5. 5.

    Calibration hierarchy: ‘sequence of calibrations from a reference to the final measuring system, where the outcome of each calibration depends on the outcome of the previous calibration’ [VIM §2.40].

  6. 6.

    ‘Definitional uncertainty’—‘resulting from the finite amount of detail in the definition of a measurand’ [VIM 2.27]—is of course in most cases much smaller in the strong objectivity of physics than in the social sciences.

  7. 7.

    ‘That is, a definition in which the unit is defined indirectly by specifying explicitly an exact value for a well-recognized fundamental constant’ [24th CGPM, 2011 On the possible future revision of the International System of Units, the SI (CR, 532), Resolution 1].

  8. 8.

    By the correspondence principle, relations specific to quantum mechanical effects, e.g. on the microscopic scale, can find correspondence to relations in Newtonian physics, e.g. at the macroscopic scale where the Planck constant is negligibly small.

  9. 9.

    The Planck constant is not merely a ‘number’ but has multiplicity of roles, such as (1) a constant of proportionality between canonical pairs of quantities (e.g. energy/time, momentum/position, angular momentum/rotation); (2) acting as a fundamental unit as the ‘quantum’ of ’action’ (e.g. energy·time); (3) is implicit in many of the ‘quantum’ definitions of the SI, not only the kilogram but also the second, volt and ohm; (4) quantifying the interaction through fields between physical systems, such as the electromagnetic interaction mediated by ‘virtual’ photons (Cohen-Tanoudji 1993).

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    Leslie Pendrill

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Pendrill, L. (2019). Ensuring Traceability. In: Quality Assured Measurement. Springer Series in Measurement Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28695-8_3

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