Determination of basic concepts in engineering monitoring

Abstract

Advances in scientific concepts on monitoring are substantially dependent on methodological developments, particularly on the state of terminology. The latter is reflected in the existing standard [i], but the construction of the recommended terms and the definitions of them are far from being unobjectionable. This aspect has been considered [2, 3] as a major factor hindering unifying monitoring (and testing) and preventing the results from being comparable. While we agree with that evaluation in essence, we would also point out that the methodological problems of monitoring are complicated. In this connection, we may recall the long-standing discussion in this journal and in other Soviet publications on the definitions of the terms measurement and monitoring [4-7]. While an acceptable formulation has been found for measurement, it has not yet proved possible to devise a definition for monitoring that meets all the different requirements.