French metrology

Background

In 2005 the French government passed a decree entrusting LNE with overall responsibility for all French metrology. Renamed the Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d'Essais, LNE took over from the Bureau National de Métrologie, which had performed this function since 1969.

Now on an equal footing with other leading national metrology institutes such as PTB (Germany) NPL (UK) and NIST (USA), LNE will represents France in the work carried out by the International Weights and Measures Bureau (BIPM). The Laboratory has set up a Metrology Committee to oversee decisions and long-term strategy. Comprising 14 leading scientists and metrologists and representatives of the French Ministries of Industry and Research, the Metrology Committee steers research work in priority fields, aligns investment with research programmes and creates mixed units of researchers where possible.

French metrology laboratories

LNE possesses extensive scientific and technical resources to meet requirements in a wide range of SI reference standards. The fields it covers are electricity and magnetism, dimension, mass and related quantities (pressure, force, torque, acoustics, accelerometry), amount of substance, radiometry-photometry, temperature and thermal quantities. The Laboratory relies on the expertise of almost 250 metrology engineers and technicians, over half of whom are involved in scientific and technological research activities.

Four national metrology laboratories

For some spheres of measurement, LNE calls on other respected scientific bodies, in particular three other national metrology laboratories:

LNE-INM (National Metrology Institute),

part of the Arts et Métiers education and research institution (CNAM), which works in the fields of dimension, mass and related quantities, radiometry-photometry, temperature and thermal quantities

LNE-LNHB (Henri Becquerel National Laboratory),

part of the Atomic Energy Commission, which is responsible for developing reference standards in the field of ionizing radiation

LNE-SYRTE (Time-Space Reference Systems),

part of the Paris Observatory, which is responsible for developing reference standards in the time-frequency field.

Seven associate laboratories

LNE also relies on seven associate laboratories for work in highly specific fields:

CETIAT (Technical Centre for Aeraulics and Thermics Industries)

for hygrometry, liquid flow measurement and anemometry

ENSAM-Paris (Arts et Métiers engineering school, Paris)

for dynamic pressure

FEMTO-ST (Franche-Comté Electronics, Mechanics, Thermics and Optics - Science and Technology)

for time-frequency

IRSN (Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Institute)

for neutron dosimetry

LADG (Gas Flow Measurement Associate Laboratory)

for gas flow measurement

Besançon Observatory

for time-frequency

TRAPIL (Petroleum Transport by Pipeline)

for liquid hydrocarbon flow measurement.

[For more information go to our
French metrology website]

LNE’s responsibilities as a reference body

LNE's main responsibilities cover:

defining and coordinating the work

of the national metrology laboratories and their long-term study and research programmes

distributing French metrology assignments among the laboratories,

in order to ensure that users have access to the appropriate metrological references for their needs

providing funding or technical support

for studies and research in the field of metrology

initiating key studies and research

in the fields of fundamental and applied metrology

representing France

at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and in European and international organizations in the fields of fundamental and applied metrology

publishing information

on developments in metrology

ensuring all measurements are traceable to national standards

and taking appropriate steps to obtain international recognition.

[For more information go to our
French metrology website]

Contact

metrology@lne.fr