E-CALLBRATION SERVICE SUCCESSFULLY DEMONSTRATED BY NIST.

NIST is expanding into a new frontier in the delivery of measurement services by using the Internet to provide industry with electronic traceability to national standards. This is a radical departure from the traditional modes of traceability and presents many new challenges. This service employs an Internet-based system for fast, remote calibration of high-dose radiation sources against the U.S. national standard.

The new service will deliver calibration results to industry customers on-demand, in real-time, at a lower cost, and the calibration results can be rapidly incorporated into the production process to ensure the highest quality manufacturing. Moreover, the e-calibration service is a technological solution to the rapidly growing demand on NIST for industrial calibrations.

At a recent ASTM International Workshop on Radiation Dosimetry, an instrument used to perform calibrations was connected to the Internet in the conference hotel in San Diego and was remotely controlled by a NIST server in Gaithersburg, MD. A "hole" was created through the NIST firewall for this application. A calibration on the San Diego instrument was performed solely by the NIST server without the direct involvement of NIST staff. The following week at the Council on Ionizing Radiation Measurements and Standards annual meeting, the remote calibration process was repeated from the NIST Administration Building. With the fundamental features now in place, additional features and safeguards are being incorporated before field testing of this technology. Several industrial partners are poised to begin collaborative trials at their facilities. These tests should foster confidence in the system prior to its inauguration as NISTs first e-calibration service. Electronic calibrations through the global connectivity o f the Internet will serve to expand the dissemination of NIST standards, harmonize ionizing radiation measurements, and facilitate trade.