A collaboration between NIST researchers and a private-sector firm has led to the development of a commercial device to fill a critical need in industry: calibration of laser tracking systems.

Laser trackers are state-of-the-art instruments capable of measuring the dimensions of objects as large as ≈120 m in length to high accuracy and with uncertainties as low as 60 µm—about half the width of a human hair. Laser-tracker measurements are responsible for ensuring the functionality of millions of dollars in products each day, and are used, for example, in precision measurement of the size, shape, and alignment of aircraft wings during assembly. Performance testing of the tracker systems, which can cost in the neighborhood of $200,000, is difficult because it requires long, high-accuracy, portable reference artifacts that retain their exact dimensions and characteristics over multiple sites and uses.

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