Measurement Science Conference expands exhibits

After a long run in Disneyland, the Measurement Science Conference (www.msc-conf.com) moved to Long Beach, CA, for one year. Also for the first time, the MSC opened its exhibition hall on Wednesday, a day earlier than in previous years. In the past, the exhibits did not open until Thursday, and attendees who came for the NIST seminars on Monday and Tuesday and the workshops on Wednesday and then left would miss the Thursday and Friday technical session and exhibits.

“Exhibitors wanted to open the trade show a day early,” said executive VP Kara Harmon. In commenting on the Wednesday opening, she added, “Exhibitors have seen a different clientele today.”

Dr. Howard Castrup, Dave Deaver, and Dr. Dennis Jackson (l-r) accepted the 2007 Woodington award for their contributions to analytical metrology. Photo by Marie Roberts, courtesy of Measurement Science Conference.

High school sophomore Shay Edwards received his student achievement award from Bob Fritzsche, president of the Measurement Science Conference. Photo by Marie Roberts, courtesy of Measurement Science Conference.

Fritzsche told T&MW’s Martin Rowe about the large number of new faces at this year’s conference. Fritzsche attributed that to engineers comings from Asia and from industries new to the conference. “We’re seeing people from the medical industry coming here. ISO 17025 is also forcing people to come here to learn about measurement uncertainty.” He estimated that about 40% of the attendees were new to MSC.

This year’s exhibition saw several new exhibitors. Exfo (www.exfo.com) appeared with its calibration system for optical instruments. Power-supply maker Lambda (www.lambdapower.com) also made its first MSC appearance with programmable power supplies. Ohm Labs (www.ohm-labs.com), a spinoff from Process Labs, exhibited a line of precision resistors used for calibrating resistance-temperature detectors (RTDs). The company also displayed precision shunts for high-current applications. New exhibitor Rohde & Schwarz (www.rohdeschwarz.com) exhibited RF signal sources used for calibrating spectrum analyzers.

New products are unusual in calibration, but a few did appear. Fluke (www.fluke.com), for example, added new products including a rubidium frequency reference and a waveform generator. The company showed its new resistance source for calibrating electrical safety (hipot) testers.