System Calibration vs Device Calibration

[James_McN]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some experiences/opinions on an approach we are looking to take on a measurement system.

We are using compactRIOs which are buit into a system which is installed in a quite restrictive environment and we are concerned will calibration. To retrieve the measurement cards and replace them will be a costly exercise.

We are considering a concept of using a portable calibration unit to perform a system calibration on site. This would involve putting in known values and notifying the software which can calculate new scaling coefficients to use going foward.

I believe this should account for everything that calibrating the devices would (and more). Assuming this is done at regular intervals and the devices calibration drift is roughly linear there should be no need to calibrate them seperately.

Have you had experience of this method? Would you be confident in this for new systems?

Cheers,

James