Coordinate Standard Measurement Development

A Shelton Precision Interferometer Base, which is used for calibration of coordinate standards, was improved through hardware replacement, software geometry error correction, and reduction of vibration effects. Substantial increases in resolution and reliability, as well as reduction in sampling time, were achieved through hardware replacement; vibration effects were reduced substantially through modification of the machine component dampening and software routines; and the majority of the machine's geometry error was corrected through software geometry error correction. Because of these modifications, the uncertainty of coordinate standards calibrated on this device has been reduced dramatically