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An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Physical Measurement Laboratory Fiscal Year 2015 (2016) / Chapter Skim
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8 Sensor Science Division
Pages 42-47

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From page 42...
... The division creates and produces devices and articles as primary and secondary standards for dissemination, creates standards, and does fundamental science in a diverse set of technical fields. These fields include optical, temperature, and pressure measurement, as well as imaging and flow.
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From page 43...
... dynamic pressure measurements are particularly difficult and inaccurate using current approaches, most of which are designed to measure static, or slowly varying pressures, so that some important, highly dynamic situations, such as shocks, are measured with significant inaccuracy; and (2) there are many extremely important application areas that require relatively inexpensive, broadly deployed (or especially embedded)
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From page 44...
... SIRCUS/Satellite Sensor Calibration/Ocean Color/Space Weather This program and its primary facility, the spectral irradiance and radiance responsivity calibrations using uniform sources (SIRCUS) facility, underpin optical metrology in terms of power, irradiance, and radiance for a broad range of important measurement systems with high operational and scientific significance, such as weather satellites, land and ocean color sensing, stratospheric aerosols, Earth's radiation budget, and corresponding ground truth artifacts.
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From page 45...
... Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility The Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III) is a nationally unique facility providing NIST traceability for (most)
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From page 46...
... In particular, the presumption that a practical solution will be achieved by a likely delay in senior staff retirement is neither constructive nor forward-looking, even if that pattern is based on experience. Very few people maintain high creativity for decades, and simply delimiting the desired spectrum of staff attributes by length of experience seems to fall short of desired management principles in an institution with a critical mission.
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From page 47...
... The PML apparently implements its QMS using staff who themselves have customer-facing and customer-supporting responsibilities This leads to a constructive team dynamic and endows the staff implementing the QMS with moral authority when inevitable problems arise. QMS in the Sensor Science Division is viewed as supportive of the PML mission and not a system populated by checkers.
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Key Terms

  • sensor science
  • missile defense
  • vision science
  • ultraviolet radiation
  • science laboratory

  • dynamic pressure
  • synchrotron ultraviolet
  • secondary standards
  • programmatic upheavals
  • pml mission

  • current understanding
  • nist traceability
  • radiation facility
  • quality management
  • electricity usage

  • surf iii
  • exacting standards
  • dynamic situations
  • control throughout
  • scale sufficient

  • refueling stations
  • funded externally
  • creates standards
  • trained personnel
  • space weather

  • staff retirement
  • concrete plans
  • significant management
  • measuring microscale
  • military combat


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