The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), at its 27th meeting in Paris, on 18 November 2022, agreed on a resolution pertaining to global digital transformation of the international measurement system (SI). This heralds the start of a concerted effort to adopt digital representations for information and metrological processes critical to the international measurement system.

To support the CIPM resolution, the APMP Focus Group on Digitalisation in Metrology (DXFG) prepared a workshop for technical leadership of metrology in the Asia-Pacific region. The intention was to help attendees plan for digitalisation of metrology.

The workshop was held online on November 23, 2023. It combined presentations with small-group discussion sessions. The presentations were recorded and are available using the links below.

Presentations


  • Dr. Blair Hall, MSL (New Zealand), DXFG Chair, “How do we build a digital infrastructure for metrology?”

    Abstract

    Since digital technologies emerged in the 20th century, people have continued to find useful applications. More and more things are now “digital”. The metrology community started to think about its digitalization quite late. That doesn’t mean the work is already done for us, but it does mean we can learn from the experience of others. Digitalisation encodes human activities so that systems, rather than people, can perform useful tasks. However, it’s not easy to translate what people do into instructions for machines. The trick is to identify key bits and pieces of information. This is something that only metrologists can do, and it needs to be done properly or subsequent digitalisation will not go well.

    This talk reflects on how to recognize important bits and pieces of information that are so familiar in our work that we take them for granted. When people exchange data and work together, they already know what the data means. This understanding comes from years of study and work experience. Now, we need to think about things differently. We need to make more explicit references to information and the semantics of data.

    In its first year, as well as fostering digitalisation initiatives among group members, the DXFG has exchanged information with groups working on digitalisation outside the APMP. This is both helping DXFG members to evaluate digital technologies for their own use, and contributing to the development of basic digital technologies for metrology.

    Recording

  • Mr. Mark Kuster, Independent Researcher and Consultant (United States), “Toward a measurement information infrastructure – leadership opportunities for ultimate success”

    Abstract

    Metrologists have automated measurement processes for decades—data acquisition, report generation, etc.—but typically in isolation with little system-wide integration. In the early 2010s, NCSLI members began discussing ideas to overcome this fragmentation by developing protocols for exchanging data between metrology systems without human intervention. Since first publicising these ideas a decade has passed. We have made both missteps and progress toward the goals. This talk will highlight the way forward and the crucial ways in which technical leadership will drive success.

    Recording

  • Dr. Adam Dunford, MSL (New Zealand), “Experiences in Digitilisation: Digital design and Open Source”

    Abstract

    The Measurement Standards Laboratory has been subject to several institutional changes of digital infrastructure in recent years and will shortly undergo another change. These changes can be very disruptive, and the decision to change is outside of the laboratory’s control. Nevertheless, technical groups can obtain a certain amount of autonomy through deliberate choice of the digital tools and technologies they use rather than simply accepting those provided by the organisation.This talk illustrates the point by showing how MSL’s Time and Frequency group are largely decoupled from changes to the wider organisation’s choice of enterprise software.

    Recording

Speaker details


Blair Hall is a principal research scientist at the Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand. He chairs the APMP Focus Group on Digitalisation in Metrology (DXFG) and is a member of the IMEKO technical committee 6 (Digitalisation) and the NCSLI technical committee 141 (Measurement Information Infrastructure).
Mark Kuster is an independent researcher and consultant based in the United States. He chairs the NCSLI technical committee 141 (Measurement Information Infrastructure).
Adam Dunford is a senior metrologist at the Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand where he leads the Time and Frequency section. Adam is also member of the APMP Technical Committee on Time and Frequency