EC 212:

MEASUREMENTS AND
INSTRUMENTATION ENGINEERING
Instructor: Mr. Mwalongo M, R
Assistant Lecturer
Office No. AB 12 (Admin Block)
E-mail: [email protected]
 LECTURE # 3

MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTY/ERRORS
 INTRODUCTION
 All measurements are subject to errors, due to a
variety of reasons such as inherent inaccuracies of
the instrument, human error and using the instrument
in a way for which it was not designed.

 Errorsarising during the measurement process can

be divided into two groups, known as systematic
errors and random errors.
 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
 Describe errors in the output readings of a measurement
system that are consistently on one side of the correct
reading.
 Either all errors are positive or are all negative

The main sources of systematic error in the output of

measuring instruments can be summarized as
 Effect of environmental disturbances

 Disturbance of the measured system by the act of

measurement
 Changes in characteristics due to wear in instrument
components over a period of time
 Resistance of connecting leads
SYSTEMATIC ERRORS DUE TO EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
DISTURBANCES
 Environmental condition in which instruments are used
may cause errors.
 Subjecting instruments to harsh conditions such as high
temperature, pressure, humidity, or strong electrostatic
or strong electromagnetic field may have detrimental
effect and hence may cause errors.
 SYSTEM DISTURBANCE DUE TO
MEASUREMENT
 Disturbanceof the measured system by the act of
measurement is a common source of systematic error.

 If we were to start with a beaker of hot water and

wished to measure its temperature with a mercury-in-
glass thermometer, then we would take the
thermometer, which would initially be at room
temperature, and plunge it into the water.
 In so doing, we would be introducing a relatively cold
mass (the thermometer) into the hot water and a heat
transfer would take place between the water and the
thermometer.
 This heat transfer would lower the temperature of the
water.
 Thus, as a general rule, the process of measurement
always disturbs the system being measured.
 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS DUE WEAR IN
INSTRUMENT COMPONENTS
 Systematicerrors can frequently develop over a
period of time because of wear in instrument
components.
 CONNECTING LEADS
 In connecting together the components of a
measurement system, a common source of error is the
failure to take proper account of the resistance of
connecting leads.
 Therefore, careful consideration needs to be given to
the choice of connecting leads.
 Not only should they be of adequate cross section so
that their resistance is minimized, but they should be
screened adequately if they are thought likely to be
subject to electrical or magnetic fields that could
otherwise cause induced noise.
REDUCTION OF SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
 Careful instrument design- Careful instrument design
is the most useful weapon in the battle against
environmental inputs by reducing the sensitivity of an
instrument to environmental inputs to as low a level
as possible.
For instance, in the design of strain gauges, the
element should be constructed from a material
whose resistance has a very low temperature
coefficient
 Calibration
 Signal filtering- noise components can be substantially
attenuated by the inclusion of filtering of an appropriate
form in the system
 Band-stop filters (BSF) can be especially useful
where corruption is of one particular known
frequency, or, more generally
 Low-pass filters (LPF) are employed to attenuate all
noise in the frequency range of 50 Hz and above
 Manual correction of output reading - In the case of
errors that are due either to system disturbance during
the act of measurement or to environmental changes
 a good measurement technician can substantially

reduce errors at the output of a measurement

system by calculating the effect of such systematic
errors and making appropriate correction to the
instrument readings
 Intelligent Instruments - Intelligent instruments contain
extra sensors that measure the value of environmental
inputs and automatically compensate the value of the
output reading.
 RANDOM ERRORS
 Are errors in measurement that lead to measurable
values being inconsistent when repeated measures of
a constant attribute or quantity are taken.
 They are scattered about the true value, and tend to
have null arithmetic mean when a measurement is
repeated several times with the same instrument.
 The concept of random error is closely related to the
concept of precision.
 The higher the precision of a measurement
instrument, the smaller the variability (standard
deviation) of the fluctuations in its readings.
 May be of real concern only in measurements
requiring a high degree of accuracy.
 Such errors can only be analyzed statistically.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF
MEASUREMENTS SUBJECT TO RANDOM
ERRORS
Mean and Median Values
 The average value of a set of measurements of a
constant quantity can be expressed as either the mean
value or the median value
 For any set of n measurements x1, x2 … xn of a
constant quantity, the most likely true value is the
mean given by
 The median is an approximation to the mean that can
be written down without having to sum the
measurements.
 The median is the middle value when measurements
in the data set are written down in ascending order of
magnitude
 For a set of n measurements x1, x2 … xn of a constant
quantity, written down in ascending order of
magnitude, the median value is given by
Deviation
 The difference between each piece of test data and the
arithmetic mean
 Deviation (error) di of each measurement xi from the
mean value xmean in a set of measurements x1,x2,… xn
is given by:
Question
For the following data
50.1, 49.7, 49.6, 50.2, 49.8
Compute
a) The arithmetic mean and the median

b) The deviation of each value

c) The algebraic sum of the deviations

 STANDARD DEVIATION AND VARIANCE
 The variance (Vs) of the set of measurements is
defined formally as the mean of the squares of
deviations

 The standard deviation (ᵟ) of the set of measurements

is defined as the square root of the variance
Question
Calculate S and V for measurement set
Measurement 398 ,420, 394, 416, 404 ,408, 400, 420,
396, 413, 430
 AGGREGATION OF MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
ERRORS
 Errors in measurement systems often arise from two or
more different sources, therefore they must be
aggregated in the correct way.
 To obtain a prediction of the total likely error in output
readings from the measurement system.
Two different forms of aggregation are required:
(1) a single measurement component may have both
systematic and random errors
(2) a measurement system may consist of several
measurement components that each have separate errors.
COMBINED EFFECT OF SYSTEMATIC AND
RANDOM ERRORS
 If a measurement is affected by both systematic and
random errors that are quantified as ±x (systematic
errors) and ±y (random errors)
 One way of expressing the combined error would be

 However, a more usual course of action is to express

the likely maximum error as
AGGREGATION OF ERRORS FROM SEPARATE
MEASUREMENT SYSTEM COMPONENTS
A measurement system often consists of several
separate components, each of which is subject to errors.
Error in a sum
 If the two outputs y and z of separate measurement
system components are to be added together, then S =y
+ z.
 If the maximum errors in y and z are ±ay and ±bz,
respectively, then we can express the maximum and
minimum possible values of S as
 The most probable maximum error in S is represented by
a quantity e, where e is calculated in terms of the absolute
errors as;

Example:
A circuit requirement for a resistance of 550 Ω is satisfied by
connecting together two resistors of nominal values 220Ω
and 330 Ω in series. If each resistor has a tolerance of 2%,
Calculate the error in the sum.
ERROR IN A DIFFERENCE
 If the two outputs y and z of separate measurement
systems are to be subtracted from one another, and
 The possible errors are ±ay and ±bz, then the
difference S can be expressed

Example
A fluid flow rate is calculated from the difference in
pressure measured on both sides of an orifice plate. If
the pressure measurements are 10.0 and 9.5 bar and the
error in the pressure measuring instruments is specified
as 0.1%, then calculate values for e and f .
RANDOM ERRORS VS SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
 Random error is always present in a measurement.
 It is caused by inherently unpredictable fluctuations in
the readings of a measurement apparatus or in the
experimenter's interpretation of the instrumental
reading.
 Whereas, systematic errors are predictable, and
typically constant or proportional to the true value.
 If the cause of the systematic error can be identified,
then it can usually be eliminated.
 Systematic errors are caused by imperfect calibration
of measurement instruments or interference of
the environment with the measurement process, and
always affect the results of an experiment in a
predictable direction
READING ASSIGNMENT
 Read on
 1. Error in a product

 2. Error in a quotient

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