Chapter

1
Stages of measurement systems
Sensor: senses physical variable
being measured
Transducer: converts sensor
signal into useful/detectable
signal
Signal conditioning: modifies
transducer signal (amplifier,
filter,etc.)
Output: provides indication of
measurement
Control (feedback): often feeds
information to a process to
change input

Experimental Test Plan
1- Parameters: What question am I answering, what needs to be measured, what parameters or variables
are involved?
2- System and tolerance: What ways can I measure this, how good do the results need to be?
3- Analysis: How will I interpret the results, how good is my answer, does it make sense?

Variables
Independent: changes in others = no affect
Dependent: changes in others = affect
Discrete: can only take on finite number of values (A/D 10 bit => 1024 values)
Continuous: any value in a range
Extraneous: not controlled during measurement but affect output

Noise vs. Interference
Noise: a random variable (requires statistical description)
stochastic: randomly determined.
Interference
Interference: produces undesirable deterministic trends.

Noise







Calibration
Apply a known input (standard) to observe the system output
Fitting a line, curve, spline, etc. to calibration data to determine
functional relationship between input and output signals.
Static: variables remain constant through measurement
Dynamic: variables change during measurement (determine
useful frequency range)
Static Sensitivity: slope (K) of a static calibration curve.
! =

!"(!! )
!"

. Must evaluate the slope of the curve.

Range: minimum to maximum measureable (input and/or output).

Resolution: smallest increment in the measured value that can be discerned.




Accuracy: measure of absolute error = true value indicated value.
% relative accuracy => = 1

!"#$ !"#$%

100 [this requires knowledge of true value i.e., calibration]

Precision: measure of repeatability (does not require calibration)

Bias error: difference between average and true value (aka systematic error)

Precise

Accurate and Precise

Neither

Uncertainty
Combined estimate of range of error in a measurement due to instruments, random, systematic, calibration
etc.
Examples of Instrument Error: