International Workshop on Coordinate Measuring Techniques at PTB

On October 9 and 10, 1997, an international workshop will be held at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt on the topic "Traceability of Coordinate Measuring Machines".

Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) allow a great variety of measurement tasks to be carried out, for example on bottom plates of clocks or on segments of rocket drive units. This universal applicability makes it difficult to state correctly the respective measurement uncertainty of each measurement result. The Workshop will discuss in detail to which extent and under which conditions the results obtained with CMMs can be relied upon. Among other things, it will deal with a method which allows for the first time a measurement-task-specific uncertainty of CMMs to be stated.

Moreover, a new method, the so-called on-line virtual CMM, will be presented to the Workshop participants. This method allows any measurement tasks to be simulated in the computer to determine from this simulation the uncertainty of measurement, which the CMM can achieve in the respective measurement task. Two leading CMM manufacturers have already integrated this method into their measurement and evaluation software. They will demonstrate how measurement result and measurement uncertainty can be indicated simultaneously in future.

The Workshop is intended above all for manufacturers and users of coordinate measuring machines, for calibration laboratories and for metrology institutes of research establishments. The event is sponsored by the Standardization, Measurement and Testing program of the European Commission.

Additional information can be obtained from:
Dr. E. Trapet, PTB
Section "Coordinate Metrology"
telephone: +49 531 592-5320
e-mail: eugen.trapet(at)ptb.de