Abstract: A new sampling method called the adaptive sampling method for the measurement of geometric forms has been developed and conducted in this paper, Unlike the method generally used at present which accepts a fixed sampling interval determined premeditatedly, the new one determines an optimum sampling interval automatically according to the features of the measured profile in-process. By means of it,not only can any special or extreme point on a profile be sampled if need be, but also measured information can be selected by holding the useful data and deleting the useless data according the profile features and assessment criteria, The principle and applications of this new method are investigated. And practical experiments as well as simulant examples on the roundness measurement of a shaft in turning process are introduced in this paper, Our research and practical experiments show that the efficiency accuracy and reliability of measurement for geometric forms can be improved greatly by accepting the new adaptive sampling method, especially in manufacturing automation and in-process measurement.

Key words: adape, form error, sampling, autocorrelation