Alternative Standards Equipment for Calibration Executive Device Calibration Procedure

Issue Details

I am currently evaluating Calibration Executive to externally calibrate my NI devices in-house, and when looking at the recommended standards equipment for the procedures we would need to implement we noticed that some of our lab's equipment is a different model than the recommended but still meets the accuracy requirements.  In some procedures, the recommended standard is no longer available from the manufacturer as it is EOL.

How can we determine what standard to use in replacement?

Solution

The automated Calibration Executive procedure for each device is only tested by NI for use with the specific recommended standards equipment listed in the procedures.  NI does not guarantee automated procedure compatibility when using standards equipment of a different model than recommended, however since the Calibration Executive procedures are written using IVI drivers, any IVI-class instrument with an associated IVI driver installed will show up and be selectable in software for the automated procedure.  If the equipment meets the requirements, the procedure may still execute in automated mode successfully, but operating Calibration Executive in this way is not supported and could result in procedure errors or failed calibrations.

Calibration Executive does allow unsupported standards equipment for any device procedure that lists support for manual mode.  In manual mode, Calibration Executive prompts the user to make manual measurements and input results for any steps which use the unsupported instrument.

When using an unsupported standard, it is crucially important to ensure that it meets the requirements listed in the device calibration procedure.  Example for the PXIe-4041 device calibration procedure:

Since this procedure supports manual mode, you can use an unsupported DMM to calibrate the device if it meets the highlighted accuracy/resolution requirements.  With an IVI-DMM driver installed for your DMM, it may be possible to run the procedure in automated mode successfully, but not guaranteed.  If the automated procedure fails, manual mode will have to be used.

Additional Information

Calibration Executive R&D consistently updates the device procedures which have outdated recommended standards equipment.  If you have a question about a specific device calibration procedure's standards, or would like timeline information for when a new standard will be supported in Calibration Executive, please reach out to NI technical support with your query.