Dictionary · Calibration
Calibration
The operation that, under specified conditions, first establishes a relation between values (with uncertainties) provided by measurement standards and corresponding indications (with uncertainties), and second uses that information to obtain results from indications. Calibration is not adjustment.
Related terms
More from Calibration
Metrological comparability of measurement results
Comparability of results traceable to the same reference — what shared traceability buys: results that can be meaningfully compared even from different labs and methods.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.46
Metrological traceability chain
The sequence of standards and calibrations used to relate a result to a stated reference — the concrete path behind a traceability claim.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.42
Calibration hierarchy
The sequence of calibrations from a stated reference to the final measuring system, each calibration depending on the previous one; uncertainty necessarily grows down the chain.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.40
Verification
Provision of objective evidence that a given item fulfils specified requirements — e.g. that an instrument performs within its maximum permissible errors. A pass/fail attestation, distinct from calibration.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.44
Metrological traceability
The property of a result whereby it can be related to a stated reference — usually the SI — through a documented unbroken chain of calibrations, each contributing to the uncertainty.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.41
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