Multi-probe method for straightness profile measurement based on least uncertainty propagation (1st report): Two-point method considering cross-axis translational motion and sensor's random error

In the straightness profile measurement of a mechanical workpiece, hardware datums have been the traditional standard. However, error separation techniques of the surface profile from parasitic motions have been developed. These are known as software datums, which separate the surface profile from the parasitic motions using multiple sensors and/or multiple orientations and realize higher accuracy than that of the hardware datum. However, the conventional software datum cannot measure a large-scale workpiece because the large sampling number causes random error amplification. Furthermore, the conventional software datum assumes that sensor's random noise is small enough in comparison with the parasitic motions. But, the accuracy of the hardware datum has become high. Then, the accuracy of the sensor's random noise is not so small, relatively. In this paper, a next-generation software datum, the two-point method based on the least uncertainty propagation, is proposed. The proposed two-point method consists of weighting and inverse filtering, resulting in the least uncertainty of the estimated surface profile by choosing suitable weighting.