Basic Uncertainty Analysis
This course is on basic uncertainty analysis and expands on the material covered in UNC101. This course requires one concept from calculus, the derivative, but that concept will be introduced for those who have not seen it, but one is not expected to be proficient with the concept in this course. The prerequisites for this course are completion of MEAS101 and UNC101, although there will be a short review of the concepts required, and a basic understanding of algebra and trigonometry. The course outline is as follows:
- Introduction
- Review
- The standards
- Measurand
- The measurement equation
- True Value and Error
- Uncertainty
- Type A and B Uncertainties
- Accuracy vs Precision
- The Derivative
- Sensitivity Analysis
- Probability and Statistics
- Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF)
- Probability Density Function (PDF)
- Dispersion Estimators
- Standard Deviation
- Allan Deviation
- The use of order statistics (CDF)
- Combination of Type A and Type B uncertainties
- Uncertainty Analysis Process
- Expectations - desired accuracy
- Brainstorming
- Write the Measurement Equation
- Perform Sensitivity Analysis
- Determine Component Uncertainties
- Determine Drift Allowance (for calibration of equipment)
- Determine Coverage Factor
- Combine Components
- Determine allowance for uncaptured contributors
- Document Analysis and Results
- Sanity Check
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- Summary
The student should be able to understand and develop relatively simple uncertainty analysis when completed with this course, but will not have sufficient understanding for the more complicated uncertainty analysis that one may encounter in precision measurements. This course will lay the foundation required to continue on with the other courses in this series which cover more complicated situations.
