Advances in Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instruments for Production Engineering

Abstract

Measurement and instrumentation have long played an important role in Production Engineering, through supporting both the traditional field of manufacturing and the new field of micro/nano-technology. Papers published in this special feature were selected and updated from those presented at The 8th International Symposium on Measurement Technology and Intelligent Instruments (ISMTII 2007) held at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, on 24–27 September 2007. ISMTII 2007 was organized by ICMI (The International Committee on Measurements and Instrumentation), Japan Society for Precision Engineering (JSPE, Technical Committee of Intelligent Measurement with Nanoscale), Korean Society for Precision Engineering (KSPE), Chinese Society for Measurement (CSM) and Tohoku University. The conference was also supported by Center for Precision Metrology of UNC Charlotte and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology.A total of 220 papers, including four keynote papers, were presented at ISMTII 2007, covering a wide range of topics, including micro/nano-metrology, precision measurement, online & in-process measurement, surface metrology, optical metrology & image processing, biomeasurement, sensor technology, intelligent measurement & instrumentation, uncertainty, traceability & calibration, and signal processing algorithms. The guest editors recommended publication of updated versions of some of the best ISMTII 2007 papers in this special feature of Measurement Science and Technology.The first two papers were presented in ISMTII 2007 as keynote papers. Takamasu et al from The University of Tokyo report uncertainty estimation for coordinate metrology, in which methods of estimating uncertainties using the coordinate measuring system after calibration are formulated. Haitjema, from Mitutoyo Research Center Europe, treats the most often used interferometric measurement techniques (displacement interferometry and surface interferometry) and their major sources of errors.Among the other papers, two are related to length measurement, which forms the basis of dimensional measurement. Schödel et al from Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) describe the recent state of thermal expansion measurements with PTB's Precision Interferometer, which are based on the observation of the absolute length of samples by using phase stepping interferometry. Meiners-Hagen et al, also from PTB, investigate an improved method for compensation of the refractive index of air in length measurements by optical interferometry where the air pressure and the humidity are measured.Three papers concern surface metrology. Song et al from NIST (National Institutes of Standards and Technology) report topography measurement for determining the decay factors in surface replication of Standard Casing to support ballistics measurements in the US. Takahashi et al from the University of Tokyo present a lateral resolution improvement for a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope that employs the combined use of standing evanescent light and a scattering distribution retrieval algorithm with successive approximation. X Liu et al from Warwick University report on a new investigation into how surface topography and friction affect the touch–feel perception, with the results showing that both the measured roughness and friction coefficient have a strong correlation with rough–smooth and grippy–slippery feelings.Measurement algorithms and calibration are described in the following three papers. Hessling from SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden presents a general unprecedented framework for dynamic evaluation of measurement systems, which separates physical experiments, analysis and signal processing methods into succeeding steps of evaluations. Wübbeler et al from PTB illustrate the Monte Carlo method required for the numerical calculations of the probability density function approach, which has been proposed for evaluation of measurement uncertainty. Neuschaefer-Rube et al, also from PTB, present procedures and standards to test tactile and optical microsensors and micro-computed tomography systems, which are similar to the established tests for classical coordinate measuring machines and assess local and global sensor characteristics.The last three papers are related to micro/nano-metrology and intelligent instrumentation. Jiang et al from Tohoku University describe the fabrication of piezoresistive nanocantilevers for ultra-sensitive force detection by using spin-out diffusion, EB lithography and FAB etching, respectively. Y-C Liu et al from National Taiwan University develop an economical and highly sensitive optical accelerometer using a commercial optical pickup head. Michihata et al from Osaka University experimentally investigate the positioning sensing property and accuracy of a laser trapping probe for a nano-coordinate measuring machine.As guest editors, we believe that this special feature presents the newest information on advances in measurement technology and intelligent instruments from basic research to applied systems for Production Engineering. We would like to thank all the authors for their great contributions to this special feature and the referees for their careful reviews of the papers. We would also like to express our thanks and appreciation to Professor P Hauptmann, Editor-in-Chief of MST, for his kind offer to publish selected ISMTII 2007 papers in MST, and to the publishing staff of MST for their dedicated efforts that have made this special feature possible.