Abstract
This report describes the experimental results of three-axis accelerometer calibration where the sensitivity is defined by a matrix form. The accelerometer is a so-called MEMS accelerometer (Hokuriku). The excitation of the accelerometer is carried out using the three-axis six-DOF shaker (IMV). The reference is the accelerometers (JAE) which control the motion of the shaker. The target of the experiment is to investigate the possibility of calibrating the multiple numbers of accelerometers at one time. The accelerometers under test are installed on a thick metal base plate. The base plate is fixed on the specimen table of the shaker. The attention was paid to the dependency of the measurement on the position of DUT in the plate, table and the quality of the motion generated by the shaker. One of the fundamental properties of the semiconductor accelerometers is the high volume of their production. On the other hand, the traditional method of calibration stated in ISO standards such as 16063 series can handle only one-axis accelerometer at one calibration using the one-axis shaker. Applying the conventional method will surely introduce the high cost. Quantitative application of semiconductor accelerometers requires a new technique of efficient calibration that enables both high accuracy and low cost. The lack of the technique might be one of the reasons why semiconductor inertial sensors are not utilized for the quantitative purpose. Typical quantitative application of inertial sensors is the measurement of the vibration to which human body is exposed during the one day working hours. If the vibration exceeds the specified value, the person in charge will go to prison. The sensors for this application are either three-axis or six-axis depending on the part of the human body.
