Aircuity’s Sensor Laboratory: Calibration Technicians or Sensor Therapists?

Aircuity’s Sensor Laboratory: Calibration Technicians or Sensor Therapists?

Guest Contributor Post: Andy Szabo, Calibration Lab Manager

Our Sensor Lab and Engineering group have over 100 years of combined experience working with sensors. This experience includes design, development, calibration, maintenance, and troubleshooting. The sensor lab procedures go beyond just simple calibrations:

• We have developed a patented system that automatically calibrates sensors using NIST-traceable standards. At the same time, it captures performance data, including both current and expected values, which feeds back into our system and provides us with data that we use to work with our sensor vendors in a continuous product improvement cycle.
• All sensors are deployed with planned replacement cycles of 6 or 12 months. This approach allows us to continuously evaluate real-world performance and provides us with additional feedback to our vendors. It is critical that our vendors are also valued partners in helping to provide the absolute best sensing performance possible. They collaborate with us to improve their product’s performance, which helps them, helps us, and of course helps our overall system performance.

I’ve been with Aircuity for over 20 years, training calibration technicians and participating in countless engineering discussions around sensor performance. Over time, I’ve noticed something interesting: we tend to “humanize” our sensors.

We describe them as “stubborn,” “unpredictable,” “easy to work with,” or even “usually happy.” It sounds like we’re talking about coworkers and in a way, we are. These sensors go out into the field as representatives of our system.

Thinking this way changes how we approach calibration. Instead of just performing routine maintenance and adjusting numbers, we work to understand behavior, including what is normal, what is not, and why. In that sense, our technicians are not just calibrators, they are more like “sensor therapists.” Here’s a lighthearted example of what that “therapy session” might look like when a sensor returns from the field:

Calibration Technician: “So, Mr. PID, what brings you in today?”
PID Sensor: “I don’t feel like I’m seeing things clearly.”
Technician: “Let’s take a look…” (examines lamp lens) “…Ah, there’s the issue – apparently you’re just not very bright.”
(And all the other sensors laugh)

It is this combination of experience, data, and attention to sensor behavior that defines how we approach sensor performance at Aircuity. Because in the end, delivering reliable performance is about understanding what each sensor needs to perform at its best. After all, sometimes a sensor just needs a little attention (and maybe a quick “check-up”) to get back to seeing things clearly.

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