NPL Metrology Projects Call

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is to lead six new collaborative projects, following the first round of project calls from the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) and is actively seeking partners to become engaged with the programme.  Opportunities range from providing advice and guidance to take-up of procedures, methods, protocols, devices and use of new/improved measurement capabilities generated by the project.

NPL is involved in ten collaborations altogether and also involved in 89 ongoing and completed projects from EMPIR’s predecessor, the European Metrology Research programme (EMPR), making the two programmes a significant source of funding for measurement science research in the UK.

The €600 million EMPIR is designed to build on the success of the EMRP, with an increased focus on innovation activities to target the needs of industry and accelerate the uptake of research outputs. EMPIR is being delivered by European members and partners of Europe's Metrology Community (EURAMET) with support from the Horizon 2020 initiative.

New NPL-led EMPIR projects:

• Advanced 3D chemical metrology for innovative technologies will provide European industry and manufacturing with urgently needed trusted measurement capability and standards for 3D-resolved chemical composition and interfacial material properties.
• Metrology for innovative nanoparticles will provide industry with techniques and methods to support the development of advanced products whose function is enhanced by innovative nanoparticles, e.g. polymeric, noble metal and quantum dot nanomaterials.
• Metrology for highly-parallel manufacturing will enable significant improvements in large-substrate, fine feature manufacturing processes (such as roll-to-roll printed electronics) by delivering targeted inline metrology tools for defect detection, substrate tracking, efficient diagnostic activity, traceability and standards.
• Metrology for 5G communications will develop traceable metrology and standardisation required by 5G communications, to improve the associated measurement uncertainties to underpin all aspects from the signals, devices, systems and test environments for the emerging 5G technologies.
• Metrology for length-scale engineering of materials will generate design rules and new measurement techniques to exploit the opportunity to use length-scale engineered materials into industrial components that are lighter, stronger, fatigue and wear resistant.
• Enhancing process efficiency through improved temperature measurement will significantly enhance the efficiency of high value manufacturing processes by improving temperature measurement capability through reduced uncertainty, significantly improved drift and new measurement methodologies.

For more information, contact Neil Campbell, neil.campbell@npl.co.uk