LAB 1: ERROR ANALYSIS AND ORIENTATION

Mariano Aguirre, Terra Drake, Mira Flores

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX 77843, US.

Abstract:

This report focuses around the propagation of error associated with the tracking camera used in the laboratory.
Using this camera and the frictionless surface table a square is moved along the table and the exact position of
three of the corners is tracked and recorded every millisecond. With these positional vectors, the length and
width of each of the sides are measured, later allowing for the area of the shape to be calculated. Using
propagation of error, the uncertainty is calculated after each individual measurement as well as at the end with
the final calculation.

Keywords: propagation of error, uncertainty, mean, propagated area, statistical area.

1. Introduction
The goal of Lab 1: Error Analysis and Orientation, is to measure the length and width of the rectangle used in the
experiment through the use of positional vectors recorded by the tracking camera. In addition, after every
calculation the uncertainty and error associated with all measurements is determined with the goal of getting an
estimation of the uncertainty of the tracking camera and the data it collects.

The first step in being able to calculate the area of the square is to find the length and width. In order to do this
2 2
the distance formula is used: 𝑑 = √((𝑥2 − 𝑥1) + (𝑦2 − 𝑦1) ), where x1 and y1 are the positions in respect to
the x and y axis of the first point, and x2 and y2 are the positions in respect to the x and y axis of the second
point. In this case the x and y coordinates are position vectors of the tracking stickers captured by the tracking
camera. To calculate the length and width the positions of the stickers at the corners (pink/orange stickers),
identified as the (x1,y1) coordinates, are squared and subtracted from the squared position of the sticker in the
center corner (green sticker) identified as (x2,y2).

After calculating the lengths and widths with around fifty to one hundred data entries, the mean of these
measurements is taken along with the respective uncertainties. The averages of length and width are used to
calculate the statistical area of the square by using the geometrical formula: 𝐴 = 𝑙 * 𝑤, where A is area, l is the
average length, and w is average width. After this, the propagated area of the square is computed by calculating
the areas of each data entry using the respective length and width, and then taking the mean of all these areas.

To calculate the statistical uncertainty of the area the formula δ𝑓 = (σ𝑓)/(√(𝑛)) is used, where δ is uncertainty,
σf is the standard deviation of the list and n is the number of points in the list.
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To calculate the propagated uncertainty the formula δ𝐴 = 𝐴 * √((δ𝑙/𝑙) + (δ𝑤/𝑤) ) is used, where δA is the
propagated uncertainty of the area, A is acreage length time the average width, δl is the uncertainty of length, δw
is the uncertainty of the width, and l w are length and width respectively.

2. Experimental Procedure
We first had to connect the equipment to our laptop using the function ssh ubuntu@jetson or
@192.268.10.2 then inputting the password, ubuntu, into the MobaXterm software. After the successful
connection, we then engaged the air, creating an essentially frictionless table top. To confirm this function was
working properly, we slid the object we were provided across the surface. This object was a square-like piece of
material with a green, pink, and orange dot in different corners.
Then, we instructed the camera to start recording data by using the following functions. First we typed, cp
examples/tracking/4[tab]~/, and clicked enter. Then, we inserted python3 4[tab], and pressed enter. The second
command started the data collection, then after approximately 20 seconds we used [Ctrl] + [C] to stop the program
and data collection. Moba Xterm then saved the data into a Microsoft Excel Worksheet, which we could download
and open to view. We then selected 71 rows of uninterrupted data to use for our calculations.

3. Results and Analysis

Table 1: Data from computer calculations, and calculated distance from the green dot to the orange dot,
calculated distance from the green dot to the pink dot, and the calculated area of each data point.

During this lab, 71 trials were collected and used to calculate the length, width, and area of the square. The data
gathered is shown above in Table 1. The width was gathered by the distance between the green dot’s pixel
position to the orange dot’s pixel position. The length was gathered by the distance between the green dot’s pixel
position to the pink dot’s pixel position. The width and length of each trial is shown above in Table 1. Now that
the width and length were calculated, we then calculated the area of each trial by multiplying the width and
length of the respective trial.
 Figure 1: Histogram of the width calculated from Figure 2: Histogram of the length calculated from the
the distance between the green dot and the orange dot. distance between the green dot and the pink dot.

After seeing the different widths and lengths that were produced by each trial, we created a histogram to show the
discrepancies within the calculated measurements. Using the formula δf = (σf / √N), where σf = standard
deviation of list, N = number of data points, and δf = uncertainty, we calculated the uncertainties for the average
width and the average length as seen in Table 2. The width measurements in each trial have been more spread out
as seen in Graph 1. This results in a greater uncertainty of the measurement. The length measurements in each
trial have been closer together than the width measurement as in Graph 2. This result created a smaller
uncertainty for the average length measurement.

Table 2: Our results of the average width, length, propagated area, and statistical area and their uncertainties.

We calculated the average width and length by adding all the widths together and adding all the lengths together
of the 71 data points we have, and then dividing the total widths and total lengths each by the number of data
points, which in this case is 71. This gives us the average width and length as seen in Table 2 as well as the
uncertainty for those measurements. The propagated average area was found by adding the average width and the
average length together and then dividing by two. The statistical average area was found by finding the area for
each data trial and then adding the area of each data trial and then dividing by the number of data points, which in
this data set is 71. We calculated the uncertainty of the average areas by using the formula δf = (σf / √N), where
σf = standard deviation of list, N = number of data points, and δf = uncertainty. As we can see from Table 2, the
propagated average area and statistical average area are very similar, but not the same since these average areas
were found in a different way. The uncertainties for each average area are different as well with the statistical
average area having a greater uncertainty most likely due to the greater range of numbers used to calculate the
average area.

4. Conclusions

When objects are measured, they are not always measured the same. This is prevalent in this experiment
especially in our data points which have differences within the values for the same distance. Once we obtained our
data points, we proceeded to the calculation. This resulted in an average width of 209.06 ± 0.52 and an average
length of 206.67 ± 0.36. This data also resulted in a propagated average area of 43207.46 ± 131.63 and a statistical
average area of 43208.52 ± 135.98. With these different average areas, we can also conclude that the way one
calculates data affects both the measurement and the uncertainty of that measurement as well as the amount of
data points we have or the amount something is measured. More measurement data and these calculations help
create more accurate results.