The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has unveiled a method for calibrating entire waveforms—graphical shapes showing how electrical signals vary over time—rather than just parts of waveforms as is current practice. The new method improves accuracy in calibrations of oscilloscopes, common test instruments that measure voltage in communications and electronics devices, and potentially could boost performance and save money in other fields ranging from medical testing to structural analysis to remote sensing.

A waveform can take many different shapes, from staircase steps to irregular curves. A waveform typically is described by a single number—some key parameter of interest in a particular application. For example, engineers have described waveforms using terms such as pulse duration, or transition time between the levels representing “0” and “1” (the binary code used in digital electronics). Waveforms can be diverse and complex, especially in advanced high-speed devices, and a traditional analysis may not distinguish between similar shapes that differ in subtle ways. The result can be signal mistakes (a 1 mistaken for a 0, for instance) or misidentification of defects.

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