Integrating Certified Lengths to Strengthen Metrology Network Uncertainty

Abstract

Object dimensions depend on temperature and nominals are given at 20 degrees Celsius, so every 3D measurement has to be scaled to the reference temperature before it means anything. The uncertainty in that thermal-expansion compensation is the problem this talk attacks. Scott Sandwith and Joe Calkins work through the traceability and uncertainty of a scale bar or certified length, then show how to integrate traceable lengths directly into a Unified Spatial Metrology Network bundle rather than treating scale as a separate correction – and what that does to the compensation and to the uncertainty analysis that comes out the other end.