Towards a machine-interpretable calibration certificate for radioactivity

Digitalisation of calibration laboratories, research institutes, and manufacturing facilities enables fast, automated flow of data and information, improving productivity while reducing turnaround times and error rates. Digital, machine interpretable calibration certificates are slated to replace or augment existing paper- or pdf-based certificates and will seamlessly integrate into digital workflows without the need for manual transcription of calibration information. National and international harmonisation of digital calibration information is crucial for their utilisation in the calibration community. In this contribution, we will present digital, machine-interpretable calibration certificates for measurements of radioactivity and related quantities such as activity concentration and activity ratios. These certificates implement the XML-DCC (Digital Calibration Certificate in eXtensible Markup Language) schema developed at PTB. Descriptions of the calibration items, measurement methods, detected nuclides, and activity measurements are represented in a machine-interpretable way, employing a digital representation of the SI. We will discuss how such calibration certificates may be harmonised nationally and internationally, and show different use cases, from laboratory calibrations to key comparisons. Human-readable representations of these certificates, necessary for quality assurance and legacy processes, are discussed as well.