Maximum Likelihood approach to calibrate hysteretic transducers

This paper deals with the calibration of hysteretic transducers. The limits of the traditional approach are explained and a new method based on the Maximum Likelihood algorithm is proposed, overcoming the mentioned limits. It is also shown that the features of the input to the transducer are important to determine in which situation the proposed method is needed. The harmonic and random cases are analysed, showing that different calibration strategies are required in the two different situations. The calibration of a hysteretic transducer is therefore much more complex than that of a non-hysteretic one. The analysis is carried out numerically, adopting a model to simulate the behaviour of hysteretic load cells and then a real case is analysed at the end of the paper.