Understanding Your Signal

Manmade devices intended for performing measurements of even the slightest complexity operate to a greater or lesser extent non-ideally. The final result includes an error component, the origin of which may be traced to inadequate calibration, noise, stray light, incorrect data processing or user error. In addition, careless sampling and sample processing cause problems. In this chapter we will look at indicators of measuring device performance, sources of error and methods for eliminating noise.