Dictionary · Calibration
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.
Related terms
More from Calibration
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
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
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
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.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 2.39
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
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