Estimating Measurement Uncertainty

Course details

Estimating Measurement Uncertainty is a basic activity in measurement laboratories and on production lines in modern industry. ISO 9000, QS 9000 and ISO/TS 16949 have put increased focus on this issue with new, specific requirements. Accounting for the measurement uncertainty is also a prerequisite for a calibration laboratory to gain accreditation to ISO 17025.

The "Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) is a reference type document containing much theory and advanced mathematics, which makes it very difficult to apply at an industrial level.

The training course teaches uncertainty estimation based on the PUMA method, documented in ISO 14253-2, which is a simplified, iterative method based on GUM. The PUMA method is much more straightforward and easier to apply than GUM itself. The course focuses on the physical understanding of the measurement task and makes only very limited use of complex mathematical and statistical tools.

The course also teaches the use of uncertainty budgets to optimize measurement processes in terms of uncertainty and cost. This is a very powerful aspect of the course, which can lead to significant savings.