Metrology
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Metrology José A. Yagüe-Fabra Design and Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad de Zaragoza Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería de Aragón (I3A), Zaragoza, Spain
Synonyms Measurement engineering; Measurement technique; Science of measurement
Definition Technological field related to the procedures, equipment, and techniques used in the performance of measurements. Metrology includes all aspects both theoretical and practical with reference to measurements, whatever their Uncertainty and in whatever fields of science or technology they occur. Metrology deals with units and standards, the principles of measurement, the methods and the performance of measurement as well as measuring instruments, the theory of errors, and the determination of physical constants and material properties by measuring. Note: “Metrology” is more frequently used than its synonyms “measurement engineering” or “measurement technique,” particularly where not only the mere technical realization of a
measuring task is addressed but also the scientific/methodological background.
Theory and Application History Measurement has been an integral part of our everyday lives since antiquity from commercial transactions to building the pyramids (Bosch 1995). First reference standards were regional or local, based on human morphology with units such as the length of an arm or a foot. Therefore, these units of measurement were not fixed and they varied from one town to another, from one occupation to another, and on the type of object to be measured. This lack of a standardization was a source of error and fraud in commercial transactions and a strong limitation for international commerce and development of science. With the expansion of industry and trade, there was an increasing need for harmonization of measures. This harmonization was sought by adopting standards based on Nature (étalon). The meter was defined based on the size of the Earth in a decree of the French National Assembly on 7 April 1795 as being equal to the ten millionth part of one quarter of the terrestrial meridian. The length of the terrestrial meridian was calculated by measurements undertaken between Dunkerque and Barcelona. A further step for the harmonization of measures was the Convention of the Meter, signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 and amended in
# CIRP 2016 The International Academy for Production Engineering et al. (eds.), CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_6587-4
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1921. This is a treaty that created the International Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Bureau of Weights and Measures, an intergovernmental organization under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), and the supervision of an elected executive body, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). The BIPM acts in matters of world metrology, particularly concerning the demand for measurement standards of an ever-increasing accuracy, range, and diversity and the need to demonstrate equivalence between national m
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