Fitting Spatial Models of Geometric Deviations of Free-Form Surfaces Determined in Coordinate Measurements

Local geometric deviations of free-form surfaces are determined as normal deviations of measurement points from the nominal surface. Different sources of errors in the manufacturing process result in deviations of different character, deterministic and random. The different nature of geometric deviations may be the basis for decomposing the random and deterministic components in order to compute deterministic geometric deviations and further to introduce corrections to the processing program. Local geometric deviations constitute a spatial process. The article suggests applying the methods of spatial statistics to research on geometric deviations of free-form surfaces in order to test the existence of spatial autocorrelation. Identifying spatial correlation of measurement data proves the existence of a systematic, repetitive processing error. In such a case, the spatial modelling methods may be applied to fitting a surface regression model representing the deterministic deviations. The first step in model diagnosing is to examine the model residuals for the probability distribution and then the existence of spatial autocorrelation.