The PTB has initiated a pilot project to build a comprehensive digital infrastructure which will bring together already existing but still unconnected architectures and databases - the "Metrology Cloud". With this digital quality infrastructure, the digital upgrading of legal metrology can succeed: The "Metrology Cloud" is intended to enable the coupling of already existing data infrastructures and to provide differentiated and secure access for all interested parties (conformity assessment bodies, market surveillance, manufacturers and users in legal metrology). It thus provides the basis for new concepts for coordination, concentration, simplification, harmonisation and quality assurance of metrological services. Starting with a trustworthy core of this digital infrastructure at PTB, the aim is to gradually expand the "Metrology Cloud" into a "European Metrology Cloud".

The "Metrology Cloud" as a central access point for the data is a prerequisite for the efficient use of modern big-data analysis methods, as they are already used outside the legally regulated area of metrology. For example, the concepts developed there for predictive maintenance are based on the fact that continuously available data makes it possible to make forecasts for future developments. The aim is to proactively maintain machines and plants and to predict malfunctions before they have an impact or failures occur. In principle, this concept could also be used to make measurement, calibration and verification more efficient.

For more information about the "Metrology Cloud", please see here.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Florian Thiel, Metrological Information Technology 8.5, Phone: +49 30 3481-7529, e-mail: Florian.Thiel(at)ptb.de

According to ISO 17025, the calibration certificate is the main means of communication in the calibration hierarchy or quality infrastructure. In the course of the digital transformation it must therefore be adapted accordingly to a digital calibration certificate. It is planned to define a digital exchange document based on an XML document. The basic structure is planned as follows: In a highly regulated area, general information, e.g. manufacturer, calibration laboratory, date, data format, etc., is stored; a moderately regulated area contains the measurement results of the calibration (at least in SI units) and a number of conventions; a largely unregulated area finally contains all other information to be passed on, such as the measured values.

More information on the DCC can be found here.

The "Internet of Things" involves the digital communication of data and of the algorithms that are based on it. The same principle is used in Industry 4.0 for networked production. For this purpose, measured data from sensors are used in many places as a bridge between the real world and the virtual world. When developing the digital calibration certificate (DCC), PTB is therefore also paying special attention to its applicability in Industry 4.0 and in similar contexts. In addition, PTB, together with a European consortium (EMPIR 17IND02 SmartCom), is developing data models and recommendations to transfer metrological data on the "Internet of Things". This includes, in particular, the development of a "D-SI" data model for SI-based, machine-interpretable communication of measurement data and measuring instrument data. PTB's goal is to establish the SI as a link between different systems in such a way that the units are always automatically converted to the SI base units for the machine.

More information about the SmartCom project can be found here.

Contact:

Dr. Shanna Schönhals, Working Group 1.24 Information Technology Force and Torque, Phone: +49 531 592-1240, Email: Shanna.Schoenhals(at)ptb.de

The application of metrological fundamentals to processes in industrial IoT requires new methods such as the calibration of digital sensors, consideration of communication problems and network effects, and measurement uncertainty methods for aggregating the resulting data.

Together with a number of European partners, PTB is therefore conducting the EMPIR project 17IND12 Met4FoF ("Metrology for the factory of the future"), in which precisely these questions are to be addressed. Calibration methods for sensors with purely digital output and MEMS temperature sensors are being developed, as well as mathematical methods for determining measurement uncertainties in industrial IoT.

In the BMBF project "AAS-based modelling for the analysis of variable CPS", PTB continues these developments and, together with its partners, integrates metrological principles along the RAMI 4.0 model. 

Contact:

Dr. Sascha Eichstädt, Department 9.4 "Metrology for digital transformation", Phone:(030) 3481-2008, EmailSascha.Eichstaedt(at)ptb.de

The topic of "data as an economic good" is of great importance to industrial companies in the value-added chain and will become even more important in the future as a result of the advancing digital transformation. The quality of the data obtained, including from sensors and actuators, and the reliability of the statements and conclusions derived from it are of central importance, especially for industry. The reliable determination and assurance of data quality is thus the prerequisite for the successful use of data as an economic good.

For this reason, PTB is working in the BMWi lighthouse project GEMIMEG-II with a national consortium from industry and research with the aim of developing a secure, consistent, legally compliant and legally compatible end-to-end availability of information for the implementation of reliable, networked measurement systems. 

Contact:

Dr. Siegfried Hackel, 1.01 Digitalisation in Department 1, Phone:(0531) 592-1017, Email: Siegfried.Hackel(at)ptb.de