A Morphological Approach to Development of a Process for Measurement Uncertainty Estimation

The problem of increasing the reliability of uncertainty estimation of measurement results is considered. The purpose of this work was to justify the application of the process approach to the formation of the algorithm of uncertainty estimation on the basis of morphological analysis. It is theoretically substantiated that from the standpoint of the system approach to achieving an acceptable degree of reliability of measurement uncertainty estimates it is necessary to implement a process approach to the formation of the estimation method as an algorithm of actions. The main stages of the estimation process are defined. It is established that each stage of the estimation process can be realized by alternative methods. The morphological box method as a realization of morphological analysis is proposed as a basis for its solution. A morphological box design of the uncertainty estimation process with an open architecture is presented, based only on commonly accepted methods and approaches for realizing each step of the process. Two aspects of the application of the morphological box method are identified. On the one hand, the morphological box allows to form an algorithm of the uncertainty assessment process, maximally acceptable for the laboratory conditions, as a combination of process steps, based on the task at hand, combining different variants of realization of these steps. On the other hand, the morphological box acts as a tool for development of new methods of realization of various stages of the uncertainty assessment process. Examples of using the morphological box method to develop alternative algorithms of the uncertainty estimation process of the same measurement method and to develop new methods of realization of different stages of the estimation process are considered.