Calibration is the process of determining the relationship between readings obtained from an instrument or measurement system and the applicable units of a defined measurement system. To ensure that measurements taken or results provided by equipment are accurate, they must be compared to a reference known to be accurate. This is the purpose of the calibration process, a comparison between known and unknown measurements. The equipment or device with known or assigned accuracy is called standard. Standards vary from country to country depending on the type of industry. It is important to understand what is being calibrated and how the calibration is performed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For example, consider a digital thermometer that uses an external temperature probe. Here a test instrument is connected to the digital thermometer and a voltage equivalent to a specific temperature is applied to the digital thermometer. The result is then recorded and the thermometer is considered calibrated. The formal definition of calibration by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) is as follows: “An operation which, under specified conditions, in a first phase, establishes a relationship between the values ​​of the quantities with the measurement uncertainties provided from the measurement standards and the corresponding indications with the associated measurement uncertainties (of the calibrated instrument or the secondary standard) and, in a second step, uses the information to establish a relationship to obtain a measurement result from an indication. This definition states that the calibration process is purely comparative, but introduces the concept of measurement uncertainty in relating the accuracy of the device under test and the standard. Calibration methods Calibration methods can be either manual or automatic, depending on the device to be calibrated. Manual This is a complex procedure performed by the user himself. It requires complete knowledge of the system or equipment to be calibrated so that the calibration process is exact and error-free. · Automatic Automatic calibration is achieved using automatic calibrators. These automatic calibrators consist of a control unit that houses the electronics that drive the system. There are several formats for calibration sessions: Method #. 1 - Review and evaluation first, then discussion Method no. 2 - Review together and evaluate together Method n. 3 - Review together with the agents Calibration concept Calibration is essentially a comparison process. An instrument is used to measure or is measured by a calibration standard and the result is compared to two things: the known value and uncertainty of the standard and the performance specifications required by the customer. The concept is simple, but the work is in the details. Some details include: The value assigned to the measurement standard, which is usually determined by its calibration history. The known uncertainty of the standard, which comes from several places, including historical calibration reports and the internal statistical process control methods that many calibration laboratories have for their measurement systems. The calibration task environment including temperature and relative humidity. · The methods and equipment used to make comparisons. · The uncertainty of the measurement system relative to the published performance specifications of the item being calibrated or to customer requirements. Importance of Calibration Calibration is used to define the quality of measurement parameters, such as accuracy, range, or precision, that are recorded.