Traceability (Metrological)

Traceability is defined by the Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) as:

Property of a measurement result relating the result to a stated metrological reference through an unbroken chain of calibrations of a measuring system or comparisons, each contributing to the stated measurement uncertainty.

Traceability involves both an unbroken chain to that reference – a clear link of “A was calibrated against B, which was calibrated against C and so on to the reference” and the documentary evidence that each step was performed in a reliable way, with clear uncertainty analysis in the form of an uncertainty budget for each step which includes the previous step as input as well as the uncertainties introduced by the current step. Ideally this documentation is reviewed through peer review or formal audit.

Note that there are other common uses of the term “traceability” including that it is possible to “trace” the origin of all the input data sets and that there are appropriate algorithmic documents (e.g. ATBDs) and that software is formally checked. These are all important aspects of a quality system. Metrological traceability includes all this, and also the unbroken chain of calibration and uncertainty analysis.