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Accrediting Artifact Calibration of a Multi-Function Calibrator
David Bartley
Staff Engineer
Fluke Corporation
Everett, Washington, USA
Presented at the Measurement Science Conference
February 5, 1998
Abstract
A decade ago, two companies introduced electronic instruments incorporating Artifact Calibration,
a technology by which an instrument calibrates itself using a small number of external standards,
thereby significantly reducing the cost of calibration and simplifying their path of traceability.
Some national standards laboratories have been cautious about accepting Artifact Calibration,
perhaps because most of the external verification traditionally done is replaced by
characterizations performed inside the instrument beyond the control and oversight of the
operator. However, the large reduction in cost of ownership that comes with Artifact Calibration is
a strong motivation for broader acceptance, particularly for high accuracy instruments whose
calibration would otherwise require time-consuming procedures and more expensive standards.
Toward this end, the national standards laboratories of the Netherlands (Nederlands Meetinstituut
or NMi), Sweden (Sveriges Provnings-och Forskninginstitut or SP), and Germany (Physikalisch-
Technische Bundesanstalt or PTB) undertook an independent evaluation of Artifact Calibration as
implemented in the Fluke 5700A with the goal of increasing acceptance of Artifact Calibration.
This paper gives background for the project and briefly reports preliminary project results and
conclusions. A more complete report will be published later in 1998, and among others will be
presented at the October 1998 meeting of the DC/LF experts group of the European co-operation
for Accreditation (EA).
Acknowledgments
I am in the enviable position of writing the first paper reporting on this project after having done
little of the work, so I find it particularly essential to give my heartfelt thanks to: Gert Rietveld,
Cock Oosterman, Cees van Mullem, and Joop Dessens of NMi; H