Metrology as an enabling technology

SECTION 3 Key Themes

Over the course of the roadmapping event, several key themes emerged which encapsulated multiple topics and covered broadly similar ideas across the prioritised research landscape. These key themes are outlined below along with key messages linked to particular demographics. To enable easier comparison, the landscape areas for each theme have also been identified.

This section aims to provide an overview of the discussions which took place at the event and these key themes collect together related topics which may form the basis for high level strategic plans. However, you may find that some aspects are more relevant to your individual areas of concern than others and these themes are not exhaustive. Many of the landscape topics which were not prioritised would also fit within these key themes and could form the basis for ideas for further development.

Metrology as an enabling technology

Trends & Drivers TD4 TD9 TD10 TD15 Research Themes RT3 RT5 Capabilities & Enablers CE3 CE4 CE5

Metrology has long been recognised as an enabling technology for engineering innovation. Previously, improvements in metrology technology have focussed on increasing measurement accuracy and resolution which can be achieved, this has allowed manufacture of items to ever increasing degrees of precision. However, the impact of advanced measurement capability is rarely obvious or fully understood to those outside the metrology community.

Currently, significant interest is being paid to the potential for metrology to drive productivity improvements. As an end of line process, conventional metrology carried out as a Quality Assurance (QA) activity, increases production times while also significantly increasing cost. This approach is also only well suited to measurement by sampling for anything other than very low volume production. True in-process/embedded metrology systems would significantly improve productivity by eliminating the time taken moving between manufacturing and measurement functions while also allowing for continuous measurement throughout all manufacturing stages, leading to reduced re-work, redundant processing and scrappage. In this way, advanced metrology is crucial in facilitating autonomous manufacture by allowing the development of smart systems capable of real time decision making for process control.

New production technologies and processes spreading due to the influence of Industry 4.0, inevitably bring with them new metrology challenges. It is also the case that these measurement techniques may have additional applications outside the fields of traditional manufacturing. For example, technologies developed for autonomous defect detection on large volume parts have been adapted for use on autonomous vehicles. Without the coordinated activities of industry and academia and the accompanying investment, it is likely progress in several sectors will be substantially delayed.

Key message

Metrology is a crucial element of all scientific, manufacturing and industrial processes. Breakthroughs in these areas are often closely related to developments in metrology technology and techniques though the role of metrology is often significantly less visible.