Calibration of three-axis accelerometers using a three-dimensional vibration generator and three laser interferometers

This report describes the calibration of accelerometers. The theory for the calibration is based on acceleration as a vector quantity, and the sensitivity derived by the theory is defined as a matrix. The experiment was conducted using a three-dimensional vibration generator and three one-channel laser interferometers. The accelerometer used in the experiment is a three-axis type. Comparison with the conventional calibration method places an importance on the transverse sensitivities, because their influence on the acceleration measurement is impossible to disregard. The relation between the transverse sensitivities derived by the matrix concept and the conventional transverse sensitivities defined by ISO-5347 Part II is stated. Importance of the dimension of the motion space created by the vibration generator is stated in terms of the calibration. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.