Content
Overview
In a virtual experiment a measurement process is modeled mathematically and simulated on a computer. The employed mathematical model of the physical experiment is sought to be as realistic as possible. Virtual experiments allow different scenarios to be easily explored. In this way, measurement processes can be designed and specified with the help of the computer. Virtual experiments can be used to estimate the accuracy that is reached by a real measurement device. Dominant sources of uncertainty can be identified and quantitatively explored by carrying out a sensitivity analysis of the virtual experiment. The results obtained can be used to optimize the considered measurement system. Virtual experiments can help in the development of procedures from data analysis for real experiments, for example to assess and compare different estimation procedures under realistic conditions, or to validate assumptions made about the distribution of measured data.
Research
The research of PTB’s Working Group 8.42 focuses on virtual experiments for optical measurement devices and the development of procedures from data analysis for evaluating corresponding measurements. To this end, the simulation environment SimOptDevice has been developed as a software library, which is successfully employed in many applications regarding length-/form- and coordinate measurements, as well as photometry. SimOptDevice is regularly maintained and its functionality improved. It is currently applied to the tilted-wave interferometer, which is suitable for the optical form measurement of aspheres and freeforms. Methods of data analysis in conjunction with virtual experiments are developed and applied to solve the involved inverse problem and to calibrate the measurement process. Other research topics include the evaluation of uncertainties associated with real measurements utilizing the results of the corresponding virtual experiment, or the use of methods from deep learning in connection with virtual experiments. For example, virtual experiments can be used to create a database needed to train a neural network that is designed for analyzing experimental data.
Publications
Publication single view
Article
| Title: | Virtual experiment for near-field goniophotometric measurements |
|---|---|
| Author(s): | F. Schmähling, G. Wübbeler, M. Lopez, F. Gassmann, U. Krüger, F. Schmidt, A. Sperling;C. Elster |
| Journal: | Applied optics |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Volume: | 53 |
| Issue: | 7 |
| Pages: | 1481--7 |
| Optical Society of America | |
| DOI: | 10.1364/AO.53.001481 |
| ISSN: | 1539-4522 |
| Web URL: | http://www.osapublishing.org/viewmedia.cfm?uri=ao-53-7-1481&seq=0&html=true |
| Keywords: | Gonio,Light-emitting diodes,Mathematical methods (general),Metrological instrumentation,Metrology,Photometry,virtual experiment |
| Tags: | 8.4,8.42,Form |
| Abstract: | Near-field goniometric measurements are employed to determine the photometric characteristics of light sources, i.e., the spatial and angular distribution of the emitted light. To this end, a complex measurement system consisting of a goniometer and a CCD-based imaging photometer is employed. In order to gain insight into the measurement system and to enable characterization of the whole measurement setup, we propose to apply a computer model to conduct virtual experiments. Within the computer model, the current state of all parts of the virtual experiment can be easily controlled. The reliability of the computer model is demonstrated by a comparison to actual measurement results. As an example for the application of the virtual experiment, we present an analysis of the impact of axial malpositions of the goniometer and camera. |