World Metrology Day 2022 - Metrology in the digital era

Since May 20, 1875, when representatives of 17 nations signed the Metre Convention, the world has agreed upon one, uniform measurement system–celebrated through World Metrology Day. Over the years this system has been adjusted and adapted to changes in technology. Throughout the first three industrial revolutions, metrologists have been able to be more and more precise with their measurements which helps technology continue to advance. The digital era, or the fourth industrial revolution, is no different. Metrology plays a huge role in IoT, technology, and digitization.

Fluke Chief Corporate Metrologist Jeff Gust, Metrologist Nicholas Mason, and Software Metrologist Michael Brown explain how metrology is playing a huge role in the digital era and will continue to help advance technology in all industries.

World Metrology Quotes

“Metrology is everywhere around us and involved in everything we do, every day. It might be invisible, or most of us might be unaware that it is around us. But in reality, measurement and measurement sciences is a part of every technological advancement.” -Mike Brown, Software Metrologist, Fluke

“The future of metrology is interesting because we’re at a point where it’s really a combination of old processes; things that happened before, while we’re embracing new technologies and a new world. So. we’re really trying to fuse those together.” -Nicholas Mason, Metrologist, Fluke

“There are lots of technologies around the world that people are working on every single day, but you can't advance the technology unless you have the ability to measure it. And that's where Fluke comes in.” -Jeff Gust, Chief Corporate Metrologist, Fluke

“As always, our ability to understand the world around us depends on how well we can measure.” -Mike Brown, Software Metrologist, Fluke

“The information that you get from a measurement and the quality of that measurement result is going to affect your ability to make a good decision.”      -Jeff Gust, Chief Corporate Metrologist, Fluke

Keep learning

• World Metrology Day resource center
• Why is Calibration Important?
• What is the future of measurement?
• Faster Networks Demand More Accurate Measurements

Video Transcript

I'm here to talk about World Metrology Day, which is on May 20th, and this commemorates the day back in 1875 in which the Treaty of the Meter was signed and this commemorates the development of a global system for common measurements that are all based on constants of nature.

The theme for World Metrology Day this year is Metrology in the Digital Era.

Over the last couple of years, top metrologists from all around the world have been collaborating on building this system that allows for a seamless transition from a digital calibration; certificates from the calibration laboratory to the customer.

In the digital area we're moving more towards digital certificates. Many of our certificates are very long. 8, 10, 20 pages of data. And in the past people have typed that in, so that they can look at what their instrument's doing. They want to look at the data in Excel, see what the instrument’s doing over time. And that's just become too cumbersome. Today, when we make a Fluke certificate, here's actually three things that happen. Where one, we're printing a paper certificate, just like before. So, people get a piece of paper. We're also making a searchable pdf. And the third thing we're doing is we're creating an XML file of all the data. And that XML file can easily be imported into Excel or other tools for people to analyze their, their devices.

A digital repository of all of this information advances, not only the calibrations ability calibration laboratory's ability to have access to information, which then enables every downstream process to be able to get digitized as well.

I love thinking about what the future of metrology looks like because the future of metrology does not look like it does today, and it doesn't look like what we think of the past.

Metrology is really everywhere around us and involved in everything that we do every day, it might be invisible, or most of us may be unaware that it is around us, but in reality, measurement and measurement sciences is a part of every act of commerce that we take in our, everything around safety, everything around technological advancement, as well as progress.

Hello, my name is Jeff Gust, and I'm the Chief Corporate Metrologist for Fluke.

Hello, my name is Nicholas Mason, I'm a Metrologist here at Fluke Corporation.

Hi, I'm Mike Brown, and I'm a Software Metrologist here at Fluke.

Happy World Metrology Day!