Do You Really Need a 17025 Accredited Calibration?

About this Article
This article by Dave Abell was presented at the NCSL International 2003 Symposium and published in the Proceedings.

Abstract

The conference theme was "The Spectrum of Metrology: From the State-of-the-Art to the Everyday." Is a state-of-the-art electronic instrument such as a microwave spectrum analyzer considered an everyday item? How much calibration is enough to assure it meets the needs of your application? End users want to know that the instruments they use meet the specifications the manufacturer claimed when the test equipment was delivered from the factory. The system of accredited calibrations as it has evolved meets a need when it is critical to know the characteristics of an instrument. This system falls short in providing a cost effective answer to the question 'is it ok to use?' This paper describes one approach to balance a laboratory-grade calibration with an affordable alternative that respects the objectives of 17025.

View or Download

The entire paper is available to view or download in Portable Document Format. But if your browser doesn't already have the (free) viewer installed, you will first need to get and install the Acrobat® Reader™.

Do You Really Need Accredited Calibration?