3003

In April 1977, the BCS published a guidance publication entitled The Expression of Uncertainty in Electrical Measurements, its reference number being 3003. It was prepared by Laurie Hinton and Ian Harris and built on earlier works on the subject of uncertainty, such as REME/31/FR, Defence Standard 00-26 and Uncertainty, Calibration and Probability: The Statistics of Scientific and Industrial Measurement by C F Dietrich.

3003 was to have a long and illustrious history. After Laurie Hinton's retirement in 1988 it became the responsibility of Geoff Orford, who subsequently updated it to address the principles in the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (the GUM). It was also expanded to cover areas of calibration other than electrical (including mass, dimensional and temperature calibration). John Hurll took over the stewardship of "3003" in the mid-nighties and added more topics, such as pressure calibration, assessment of compliance with specifications and the convolution of distributions. At around this time, a training course on the subject of measurement uncertainty was developed, mirroring the contents of 3003. Both 3003 and the training course continue to this day.

The version of 3003 prevailing at 25th April 2016 is dated November 2012. Both the original 1977 version and this latest version (now known as M3003 and published by UKAS) can be viewed or downloaded by selecting the corresponding link at the foot of this page.

Minutes of BIPM Working Group on the statement of uncertainties

The Introduction to the GUM (Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement) includes the following:

The basis of the Guide is recommendation 1 (CI-1981) of the Comité International des Poids et Mesures (CIPM) and Recommendation INC-1 (1980) of the Working Group on the Statement of Uncertainties. The Working Group was convened by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in response to a request of the CIPM.

Here are the original minutes of that meeting. This provides an interesting insight into the thinking that led to the direction in which the GUM was developed.

These notes can be viewed or downloaded by selecting the link WGUncertainties1980.pdf at the foot of this page.

Re-examination of mismatch uncertainty when measuring microwave power and attenuation

This paper was published in 1981, the authors being Ian Harris and Frank Warner. It comprises a detailed mathematical analysis of mismatch uncertainty, including descriptions of the U-shaped probability distribution.

The paper can be viewed or downloaded by selecting the link Mismatch uncertainty.pdf at the foot of this page.

Defence Standard 00-26

Early documents on the topic of uncertainty of measurement included MOD Publication REME/31/FR (Author Ian Harris, published December 1972) and Defence Standard 00-26 (published February 1982).

NOTE: If anyone has a copy of the REME document it would be much appreciated!

Issue 2 of Defence Standard 00-26 can be viewed or downloaded by selecting the link Def Stan 00-26.pdf at the foot of this page.