Dictionary · Calibration
Adjustment of a measuring system
The set of operations carried out on a measuring system so that it provides prescribed indications corresponding to given quantity values. Adjustment changes the instrument; calibration afterwards re-establishes its relation to standards.
Related terms
More from Calibration
Calibration diagram
A graphical expression of the relation between indication and corresponding measurement result, showing the strip of estimated uncertainty around the relation.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.30
As-found / as-left data
Calibration results recorded before (as-found) and after (as-left) any adjustment or repair. As-found data support reverse-traceability decisions about product accepted with the instrument since its previous calibration.
Calibration practice; NCSLI RP-1
Metrological traceability to a measurement unit
Traceability whose stated reference is the definition of a unit through its practical realization — "traceable to the SI" in its precise sense.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.43
Calibration curve
The expression of the relation between indication and corresponding measured quantity value established by calibration — the diagram's central line, without the uncertainty strip.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.31
Calibrator
A measurement standard used in calibration — in some fields, a device or material whose assigned value is transferred to the instrument under calibration.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 5.12
Calibration interval
The period between successive calibrations of an instrument, set and adjusted from stability history, usage, environment, and risk — commonly managed with interval-analysis methods such as those in NCSLI RP-1 and ILAC-G24.
ILAC-G24:2022