Automatic calibration of test equipment

Presently, most test equipment calibration is done manually by potentiometer adjustments in the test equipment. This requires removing an instrument from the test station, taking it into the calibration laboratory and calibrating it. It is a costly and time consuming process. A considerable reduction in calibration cost and time can be achieved by replacing these potentiometers with programmable ones. This enables the test equipment to be calibrated automatically with greater resolution and consistency, thus eliminating the down-time presently experienced with manual calibration. This paper describes a project undertaken by Hughes Aircraft Company to replace manual potentiometers, used in calibration adjustments, with programmable potentiometers (pots) in a Hewlett-Packard model 436A Power Meter