Accuracy Of Measurement System Research Articles

The Suppression Effect of an Imaging System on the Geometric Tilt-to-Length Coupling in a Test Mass Interferometer

Tilt-to-length (TTL) coupling noise arises from angular misalignments of interfering beams in optical path length (OPL) measurements and significantly impacts the accuracy of interferometry measurement systems. This paper focuses on geometric TTL coupling in a test mass (TM) interferometer and examines how an imaging system influences TTL noise suppression. First, the analytical expression of the geometric TTL coupling in a TM interferometer with alignment errors is derived and confirmed through numerical simulation. Subsequently, an imaging system is incorporated into the geometric model and the corresponding analytical expressions are obtained under two common conjugate relationships. Nevertheless, the TTL coupling remains beyond the requirement of TM interferometer, as the residual TTL coupled with alignment errors persists even with the imaging system. Therefore, an optimal position of the imaging system capable of eliminating the second-order term of the TTL coupling is determined. Meanwhile, the first-order term can be mitigated through in-orbit calibrations. These findings offer valuable guidance for the design and adjustment of imaging systems in space-borne gravitational wave detection missions, which require high-precision laser interferometry.

Quantification of the Plasma Concentration of Vadadustat by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet Detection and Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

An inexpensive, simple, and accurate plasma concentration measurement system is needed to actively conduct pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses of vadadustat, hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, in clinical settings. In this study, the authors aimed to develop a method for measuring vadadustat in human plasma that could be applied for therapeutic drug monitoring using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) in a clinical setting. Plasma samples (100 μL) were pretreated with acetonitrile using butyl paraoxybenzoate as an internal standard. Chromatographic separation was performed on a SunShell PFP C18 column (2.6 μm, 4.6 mm × 150 mm). The mobile phase consisted of (A) 20 mM of phosphate buffer (pH 2.4) and (B) acetonitrile (60:40, v/v), delivered isocratically at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The analytes were detected by UV absorbance at a wavelength of 220 nm, and the column temperature was 40°C. To evaluate the applicability of HPLC-UV in a clinical setting, blood samples were collected at 19 time points from 7 patients who had been taking vadadustat. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 0.2-150 mcg/mL (R2 > 0.99). Intra-assay and interassay accuracy, precision, and stability met the Food and Drug Administration recommendations. The vadadustat plasma concentrations of patients analyzed using the current HPLC-UV method were almost equal to those measured using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (mean difference: 0.13 mcg/mL). Large variability in the dose-adjusted plasma concentrations of vadadustat at 12 hours after administration was observed between patients (coefficient of variation = 57.6%). This HPLC-UV method is a simple, accurate quantification method for evaluating plasma concentrations in patients taking vadadustat in a clinical setting.

Accuracy calibration of the multi-light screen measurement system using array optical signal

Abstract The multi-light screen measurement systems must be calibrated before being come into use, and a calibration method using live-fire practice is generally adopted. However, this method has many shortcomings, such as high cost, high risk and poor efficiency. To effectively improve the measurement accuracy of a multi-light screen measurement system, we propose a calibration method based on array optical signal in the paper. According to the measurement principle of the system, the proposed calibration theory is systematically described. The aim is to map the given measurement results in the form of vector into the specified time sequence. Furthermore, we develop a calibration platform whose core components are an arbitrary waveform generator and a tunable laser, and thus it can generate a set of six optical signals with an exact sequential relationship. After receiving the optical signals, some measurement results with errors are obtained by the system. Many calibration operations are performed to obtain the systematic errors, which are the statistical average of the deviation between the given measurement results and those with errors. Finally, we use the proposed calibration method combined with the error tensor and the traditional one to carry out comparison experiments. The results show that the proposed calibration method is superior to the traditional method in terms of comprehensive performance. In addition, the proposed calibration method relative to the traditional ones has some advantages, such as high efficiency, safety and low cost.

Rotating dual-retarders to correct polarization measurement error for division-of-amplitude polarimeter in full field of view

The division-of-amplitude polarimeter (DoAP) can measure the four Stokes parameters simultaneously, and has the advantages of snapshot and high spatial resolution. However, the residual polarization aberration (PA) of DoPA system can lead to the polarization measurement error, which is influenced by the field of view. In this paper, the relationship between the measurement errors of Stokes parameters and the Mueller pupil is derived, and the Mueller pupil of DoPA system is obtained by 3D polarization ray-tracing matrix. Then, a method of dual-retarders rotation is proposed to correct the Mueller pupil in full field of view. The simulation demonstrates the PA correction can improve the measurement accuracy of DoPA system, and the measurement error of degree of linear polarization is reduced by 11.5 %, 38.2 % and 11.8 % at 0°, 10° and 15° field of view, respectively. This research facilitates the precise measurement of polarization signals for polarimeters.

Smart Wireless Transducer Dedicated for Use in Aviation Laboratories.

Reliable testing of aviation components depends on the quality and configuration flexibility of measurement systems. In a typical approach to test instrumentation, there are tens or hundreds of sensors on the test head and test facility, which are connected by wires to measurement cards in control cabinets. The preparation of wiring and the setup of measurement systems are laborious tasks requiring diligence. The use of smart wireless transducers allows for a new approach to test preparation by reducing the number of wires. Moreover, additional functionalities like data processing, alarm-level monitoring, compensation, or self-diagnosis could improve the functionality and accuracy of measurement systems. A combination of low power consumption, wireless communication, and wireless power transfer could speed up the test-rig instrumentation process and bring new test possibilities, e.g., long-term testing of moving or rotating components. This paper presents the design of a wireless smart transducer dedicated for use with sensors typical of aviation laboratories such as thermocouples, RTDs (Resistance Temperature Detectors), strain gauges, and voltage output integrated sensors. The following sections present various design requirements, proposed technical solutions, a study of battery and wireless power supply possibilities, assembly, and test results. All presented tests were carried out in the Components Test Laboratory located at the Łukasiewicz Research Network-Institute of Aviation.

Study on Dynamic and Accurate 6-DOF Measurement System and Approach

Study on Dynamic and Accurate 6-DOF Measurement System and Approach

Error compensation for near optical coaxial phase measuring deflectometry with refraction error model

Phase measuring deflectometry (PMD) is a key measurement technology for specular surfaces form measurement. Compared with conventional PMD techniques, the near optical coaxial PMD (NCPMD) can achieve compact configuration, light weight and reducing measurement error caused by shadows of the surface structures through utilizing a plate beamsplitter. However, the introduction of the plate beamsplitter will affect the measurement accuracy of the NCPMD system. The refraction of the plate beamsplitter needs to be considered. In this work, a virtual system of NCPMD was established, and an error model of the NCPMD system by considering the refraction influence of the plate beamsplitter was presented to analyze the shape reconstruction error caused by the plate beamsplitter. Moreover, the calibration method of the beamsplitter and the ray tracing algorithm to achieve error compensation of the beamsplitter were proposed. The proposed error compensation method can effectively improve the measurement accuracy of NCPMD system which has been confirmed by surface measurement experiments.

A Wireless Noninvasive Blood Pressure Measurement System Using MAX30102 and Random Forest Regressor for Photoplethysmography Signals

Hypertension, often termed “the silent killer”, is associated with cardiovascular risk and requires regular blood pressure (BP) monitoring. However, existing methods are cumbersome and require medical expertise, which is worsened by the need for physical contact, particularly during situations such as the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to develop a cuffless, continuous, and accurate BP measurement system using a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor and a microcontroller via PPG signals. The system utilizes a MAX30102 sensor and ESP-WROOM-32 microcontroller to capture PPG signals that undergo noise reduction during preprocessing. Peak detection and feature extraction algorithms were introduced, and their output data were used to train a machine learning model for BP prediction. Tuning the model resulted in identifying the best-performing model when using a dataset from six subjects with a total of 114 records, thereby achieving a coefficient of determination of 0.37/0.46 and a mean absolute error value of 4.38/4.49 using the random forest algorithm. Integrating this model into a web-based graphical user interface enables its implementation. One probable limitation arises from the small sample size (six participants) of healthy young individuals under seated conditions, thereby potentially hindering the proposed model’s ability to learn and generalize patterns effectively. Increasing the number of participants with diverse ages and medical histories can enhance the accuracy of the proposed model. Nevertheless, this innovative device successfully addresses the need for convenient, remote BP monitoring, particularly during situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, thus making it a promising tool for cardiovascular health management.

Artificial intelligence powered real-time quality monitoring for additive manufacturing in construction

In the manufacturing process of 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP), defects and anomalies have a significant impact on both the success rate and the quality of the final products, underscoring the need for real-time monitoring. Currently, monitoring is primarily based on manual observation and existing automated methods are limited in real-time performance and accuracy. This study introduced a real-time and highly accurate defect detection and measurement system for using deep learning (DL) and computer vision (CV) techniques. A range of improvement methods were applied in YOLOv7, showing better capacities of accuracy and speed for detecting defects in 3DCP than current cutting-edge detectors such as YOLOv8. Notably, the virtual high-fidelity data were produced by DL based data augmentation strategy and their effects were assessed. Replacing real data as the training dataset, the generated virtual data were used in the models to improve measurement accuracy. Applying the proposed method, the comprehensive insights into 3DCP defects were obtained. Consequently, the relationship formula between defect frequency and printer parameters was investigated by the proposed method, guiding operators in effectively controlling printer parameters and preventing breakpoint defects during the printing process.

Improved Design of Imaging System for Online Detection of Large-Sized Step-Shaft Runout Errors

Large-sized step shafts are important devices for supporting and transferring heavy parts, and online inspection equipment for runout errors is affected by the environment and is subject to coaxiality errors and center-position errors, leading to problems such as reduced measurement accuracy in imaging systems. In view of the above problems, this paper proposes an improved optical imaging system design for runout error detection based on the plane-mirror-group correction method. Zemax was used to optimize the structure and simulate the optical path of the optical imaging system. The total length of the structure was 50 mm, and the MTF function for each field of view was greater than 0.3 at the spatial level up to a frequency of 42 lp/mm. The system was applied to a test platform for runout error detection, achieving the detection of runout errors of a large size in the radial direction and at the end face with a diameter range of 500–700 mm. The measurement repeatability was less than 30 μm, and the system corrected the coaxiality error of the stepped-shaft online inspection equipment considered in this paper.

Precision Optimization Analysis of Online Measurement System for Laser Melting Pool Morphology in Additive Manufacturing Process

Selective Laser Melting (SLM), as the most precise and highest quality processing technology in additive manufacturing, is widely used in fields such as aerospace. Online measurement of the laser melting pool, the basic unit of the SLM process, reflects the precision and process stability of SLM. The accuracy of the online measurement system for laser melting pool morphology, which is based on the principle of visual measurement, is crucial for accurate evaluation of the laser melting pool morphology. This paper firstly conducts research on visual calibration technology for the online measurement system of laser melting pool morphology, achieving precise positioning of the visual system and effectively calculating target-related feature information, which is then converted into corresponding digital information for further processing and analysis. Secondly, the paper completes the system error analysis and parameter optimization design, effectively improving the accuracy of the visual measurement system. Finally, theoptimized online measurement system is verified for accuracy and evaluated for precision, proving the feasibility and effectiveness of the methods presented in this paper.

An on-machine measurement technique with sub-micron accuracy on a low-precision grinding machine tool

The on-machine measurement system can effectively improve the machining efficiency and accuracy of the optics in the grinding stage, but the common grinding machine has large geometric errors and ambient temperature errors, which are the key factors restricting the accuracy of on-machine measurement. In this paper, a high-precision error separation technique including geometric error separation and temperature error separation is proposed to achieve sub-micron level measurement accuracy in the grinding stage. The on-machine measurement system is built based on the color confocal sensor. A sensitive error model is established based on Abbe's principle and multi-body dynamics, and the geometric error separation with zero Abbe's error is achieved by a high-precision reference mirror. Then the temperature error influence model is established based on the scanning path, and the temperature error separation method based on the auxiliary profile line is proposed according to the temperature error model. Finally, it is verified through experiments that after error separation, the measurement accuracy of the on-machine measurement system is improved from tens of micron to sub-micron, which exceeds the measurement accuracy of ordinary coordinate measurement machines (CMMs), and can effectively improve the machining accuracy and efficiency in the grinding stage.

Photosvaltable Characteristics Monitoring System Using the Internet of Things (IOT)


 
 
 
 Continuous monitoring of solar panel performance is essential to ensure effective and efficient generation of electrical energy. Developing a monitoring system such as an I-V characteristic curve tracker enables real-time monitoring and identification of potential problems or efficiency improvements. The system utilizes a circuit switching system for accurate and continuous measurement, providing insight into how the solar panel responds to changing environmental and load conditions. The data recorded by temperature, light intensity, current, and voltage sensors on the solar panel provides valuable information about its condition and the environmental factors affecting it. Utilizing IoT technology allows real-time monitoring of the data, accessible via a web page and presented graphically. The data is also stored in Excel format for further analysis, so users can access and monitor continuously as long as they are connected to the internet. From the experimental results, the Voc of the solar panel ranged from 18.7 V to 20.42 V, and Isc between 0.0727 A to 0.2145 A, which were tested under solar irradiation ranging from 100 to 500 W/m². This research demonstrates the importance of continuous monitoring and the effectiveness of the developed monitoring system in providing real-time data for analysis and optimization of solar panel performance. The system has been tested to meet the IEC No. 13B-23 standard for accuracy classes 0.2 and 0.5. A comparison between manual testing and sensor testing shows that despite the difference in accuracy levels, the sensor measurements have a relatively low average error (1.04% for voltage and 0.64% for current) compared to manual measurements, indicating that the sensor is reliable in providing accurate data. This demonstrates the reliability and effectiveness of using the sensor in the solar panel characteristics monitoring system.
 
 
 

Altimeter Calibrations in the Preliminary Four Years’ Operation of Wanshan Calibration Site

In order to accomplish the calibration and validation (Cal/Val) of altimeters, the Wanshan calibration site (WSCS) has been used as a calibration site for satellite altimeters since its completion in August 2019. In this paper, we introduced the WSCS and the dedicated equipment including permanent GNSS reference stations (PGSs), acoustic tide gauges (ATGs), and dedicated GNSS buoys (DGB), etc. placed on Zhi’wan, Wai’ling’ding, Dan’gan, and Miao’Wan islands of the WSCS. The PGSs data of Zhi’wan and Wai’ling’ding islands were processed and analyzed using the GAMIT/GLOBK (Version 10.7) and Hector (Version 1.9) software to define the datum for Cal/Val of altimeters in WSCS. The DGB was used to transfer the datum from the PGSs to the ATGs of Zhi’wan, Wai’ling’ding, and Dan’gan islands. Separately, the tidal and mean sea surface (MSS) corrections are needed in the Cal/Val of altimeters. We evaluated the global/regional tide models of FES2014, HAMTIDE12, DTU16, NAO99jb, GOT4.10, and EOT20 using the three in situ tide gauge data of WSCS and Hong Kong tide gauge data (No. B329) derived from the Global Sea Level Observing System. The HAMTIDE12 tide model was chosen to be the most accurate one to maintain the tidal difference between the locations of the ATGs and the altimeter footprints. To establish the sea surface connections between the ATGs and the altimeter footprints, a GPS towing body and a highly accurate ship-based SSH measurement system (HASMS) were used to measure the sea surface of this area in 2018 and 2022, respectively. The global/regional mean sea surface (MSS) models of DTU 2021, EGM 2008 (mean dynamic topography minus by CLS_MDT_2018), and CLS2015 were accurately evaluated using the in situ measured data and HY-2A altimeter, and the CLS2015 MSS model was used for Cal/Val of altimeters in WSCS. The data collected by the equipment of WSCS, related auxiliary models mentioned above, and the sea level data of the hydrological station placed on Dan’gan island were used to accomplish the Cal/Val of HY-2B, HY-2C, Jason-3, and Sentinel-3A (S3A) altimeters. The bias of HY-2B (Pass No. 375) was −16.7 ± 45.2 mm, with a drift of 0.5 mm/year. The HY-2C biases were −18.9 ± 48.0 mm with drifts of 0.0 mm/year and −5.6 ± 49.3 mm with −0.3 mm/year drifts for Pass No. 170 and 185, respectively. The Jason-3 bias was −4.1 ± 78.7 mm for Pass No. 153 and −25.8 ± 85.5 mm for Pass No. 012 after it has changed its orbits since April 2022, respectively. The biases of S3A were determined to be −16.5 ± 46.3 mm with a drift of −0.6 mm/year and −9.8 ± 30.1 mm with a drift of 0.5 mm/year for Pass No. 260 and 309, respectively. The calibration results show that the WSCS can commercialize the satellite altimeter calibration. We also discussed the calibration potential for a wide swath satellite altimeter of WSCS.

Calculation and measurement of trapping stiffness in femtosecond optical tweezers.

Due to the characteristics of ultra-short pulse width and ultra-high peak power, femtosecond pulse laser can effectively induce nonlinear optical effects in trapped objects. As a result, it holds great value in the fields of micro and nano manipulation, microfluidics, and cell biology. However, the nonlinear optical effects on the stiffness of femtosecond optical traps remain unclear. Calibration of trap stiffness is crucial for accurately measuring forces and manipulating small particles. In this paper, we compare the stiffness between femtosecond optical traps and continuous wave optical traps. Experimental results demonstrate that the stiffness of the femtosecond optical trap in the splitting direction is greater than that in other directions and the stiffness of the continuous wave optical trap under the same laser power condition. Additionally, as the laser power increases, the stiffnesses of both the femtosecond optical trap and the continuous wave optical trap gradually increases. In contrast to a linear increase of the continuous wave optical trap, the stiffness of the femtosecond optical trap exhibits an exponential rise with increasing laser power. This research provides guidance and reference for improving the force measurement accuracy of femtosecond optical tweezer system.

Dynamic calibration method for track geometry measurement system-a case study in China

With the rapid development of railway construction, the mileage of railway detection has increased dramatically, and railway companies have higher requirements for the repeatability and accuracy of track geometric dynamic detection data. Therefore, the track geometry measurement system needs to be calibrated to improve the measurement accuracy to ensure the safety of railway operation. However, the existing calibration methods of the track geometry measurement system can only realize the static calibration and lack the dynamic calibration method, which cannot calibrate the track geometry measurement system under the real operation state. Therefore, a dynamic calibration method for the track geometry measurement system is proposed in this paper. A real and reliable test environment is provided for the track geometry measurement system by presetting the track geometry irregularity and laying the rail dynamic displacement monitoring system on the calibration test line, and the dynamic and static differences of the track are analyzed based on the test environment. Based on the bisection method, this paper reduces the measurement error of the track geometry measurement system and analyzes the measurement repeatability of the track geometry measurement system. Finally, the error correction model of the track geometry measurement system is established, and the error analysis and uncertainty evaluation of the track geometry measurement system are carried out. The results show that the track geometry measurement system calibrated by the dynamic calibration method proposed in this paper meets the requirements of the measurement error for the gauge and cross level. This study can establish the value traceability relationship of the track geometry measurement system, realize the calibration and evaluation of the accuracy of the track geometry measurement system under the real operation state, and improve the reliability and accuracy of the track geometry dynamic detection results.

Design and construction of the Texas Christian University impedance tube

The two-microphone impedance tube test method is a well-established and widely used technique for determining the acoustic absorption coefficient and impedance ratio of materials. This method uses two closely spaced microphones to simultaneously measure the incident and reflected sound waves. A two-microphone impedance tube measurement system made of 6061-T6 Aluminum with a diameter of 3 inches, a 0.5 inch wall thickness, and microphones spaced 2.7 inches apart has been constructed for undergraduate research at Texas Christian University (TCU). These geometrical values suggest a usable frequency range of 50 Hz to 2637.77 Hz as referenced in ASTM Standard E1050-19. Validation of the system was achieved by taking measurements on Owen Corning Type 705 pressed fiberglass board with a 1-inch thickness and comparing them to absorption data provided by the manufacturer. Additional validation measurements were taken without a test sample in place. All validation tests suggest that the TCU impedance tube is an accurate measurement system.

INFLUENCE ANALYSIS OF THREE DIFFERENT CAMERA CALIBRATION METHODS ON A CAMERA-PROJECTOR MEASURING SYSTEM

The challenges arising from mass production with high quality level require advanced error measurement systems and optical metrology systems. Nowadays, it is more frequent to find this type of controls at the manufacturing industry into the quality control procedures as long as the need for a faster capture speed and precision has increased. However, these techniques can be improved. The accuracy of 3D measurement systems formed by a camera-projector pair depends directly on the calibration procedure used. The projector is usually modelled as the inverse projection of a pin-hole camera, which presents the option to calibrate the system by two different approaches: as a whole system or separately. The most common approach is the use of a camera previously calibrated, followed by the calibration of the projector. Studies show that the uncertainty of the camera parameters from its calibration propagates to the projector parameters and several authors conclude that the three most widespread are: Tsai, Zhang and Direct Linear Calibration. The objective of this study is to have a clear comprehension of the relationships between the camera and projector parameters and of how uncertainty is propagated to the measurement system error. Therefore, the three calibration methods previously mentioned and some of them possible combinations are analyzed.

Four-wave mixing based spectral Talbot amplifier for programmable purification of optical frequency combs

Optical frequency combs (OFCs) with programmable free spectral range and high optical carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) play a crucial role in diverse research fields, including telecommunications, spectroscopy, quantum information, astronomy, sensing, and imaging. Unfortunately, the presence of stochastic noise often results in degraded optical CNR, leading to limited communication performance and measurement accuracy in comb-based systems. There is a lack of effective and flexible methods to improve the CNR of OFCs contaminated by broadband noise, hampering their widespread utilization. To address this challenge, we propose a four-wave mixing based spectral Talbot amplifier to purify OFCs flexibly. Our approach employs programmable spectral phase filters followed by a nonlinear Kerr medium to regenerate an OFC with superior CNR. In our experimental demonstration, we regenerated a 165-GHz spaced CNR enhanced OFC from a noise-dominated comb source spaced at 11 GHz, achieving up to ∼11-dB CNR improvement. The technique allows for a user-defined purification factor m to range from 7 to 15. Furthermore, our scheme demonstrates flexibility in adjusting the wavelengths of the regenerated comb lines via a tunable optical delay line without the need for a tunable seed laser. We also investigated the impact of the pump and signal on the regenerated comb experimentally and studied the influence of dispersion mismatch on the suppression of undesired sidebands numerically. Our proposed scheme presents a powerful alternative for programmable purification, manipulation, and detection of noise-dominated spectral waveforms.

An optical-based measurement method for center distance between two double-hole components

PurposeIn the context of fixed-wing aircraft wing assembly, there is a need for a rapid and precise measurement technique to determine the center distance between two double-hole components. This paper aims to propose an optical-based spatial point distance measurement technique using the spatial triangulation method. The purpose of this paper is to design a specialized measurement system, specifically a spherically mounted retroreflector nest (SMR nest), equipped with two laser displacement sensors and a rotary encoder as the core to achieve accurate distance measurements between the double holes.Design/methodology/approachTo develop an efficient and accurate measurement system, the paper uses a combination of laser displacement sensors and a rotary encoder within the SMR nest. The system is designed, implemented and tested to meet the requirements of precise distance measurement. Software and hardware components have been developed and integrated for validation.FindingsThe optical-based distance measurement system achieves high precision at 0.04 mm and repeatability at 0.02 mm within a range of 412.084 mm to 1,590.591 mm. These results validate its suitability for efficient assembly processes, eliminating repetitive errors in aircraft wing assembly.Originality/valueThis paper proposes an optical-based spatial point distance measurement technique, as well as a unique design of a SMR nest and the introduction of two novel calibration techniques, all of which are validated by the developed software and hardware platform.