The principal goal of this project was to develop the SI system in a way that impacted emerging areas of technology that utilise RF, microwave, millimetre-wave and submillimetre-wave electromagnetic science and technology. Research and development was undertaken to achieve traceability between existing SI units, and the new and evolving quantities and units that are used in these sectors of 'applied' metrology.

Overview of the project structure

The lack of traceability for newly-developed instrumentation introduces a barrier to the use of this instrumentation in high-value, high-impact, fields – for example, medical, security, consumer electronics and environmental monitoring uses. The advancements in instrumentation have been required to meet the needs of existing and next-generation end-user applications, e.g. in industry and elsewhere.

The project improved the dissemination of traceability by using faster and more cost-effective mechanisms (for example, electronic calibrators and uncertainty computation software). This gave the end-user advantages in terms of:

1. accessibility to traceability mechanisms; and
2. improved reliability of these mechanisms.

The project ran from July 2013 to June 2016. It involved 13 European organisations:

• Seven National Measurement Institutes:
  1. CMI, Czech Republic
  2. LNE, France
  3. METAS, Switzerland
  4. NPL, UK
  5. PTB, Germany
  6. SP, Sweden
  7. VSL, Netherlands
     
     
• Two industrial companies:
  1. Keysight Technologies
  2. Rohde & Schwarz
     
     
• Four universities/research institutes:
  1. Czech Technical University
  2. Ferdinand-Braun-Institut
  3. KU Leuven
  4. University of Leeds