Abstract - Simona Salicone

The mathematical theory of possibility will be presented as an alternative, though not conflicting mathematical approach to probability theory for the expression, evaluation and propagation of measurement uncertainty.

Thanks to the definition of some variables, called Random-Fuzzy variables, this theory yields a unique mathematical representation of all kinds of uncertainty contributions. The Random-Fuzzy variable represents in fact a measurement result and all associated measurement uncertainty contributions: the random contributions to uncertainty, the unknown systematic contributions, and the uncompensated systematic contributions. Furthermore, under this mathematical framework, the combination of measurement results is mathematically done by combining Random-Fuzzy variables and, thanks to the availability of different operators (t-norms), each contribution can be combined in the most appropriate way, according to the way they affect the measurement procedure.

Some examples will be provided, and it will be shown how this mathematics can effectively represent some of the most common situations in metrology (including the so-called total ignorance) and propagate all kinds of uncertainty contributions properly according to all the available metrological information.

Simona Salicone is an Associate Professor of electrical and electronic measurements at Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB), Politecnico di Milano.

Her principal research interests are concerned with the analysis of advanced mathematical methods for uncertainty representation and estimation. Her research activity is reflected in the over 100 papers published in international and national scientific journals, in the proceedings of national and international conferences in the field of instrumentation and measurements, and in two monographs, edited by Springer: “Measurement Uncertainty. An approach via the mathematical theory of evidence” (2007) and “Measuring Uncertainty within the Theory of Evidence” (2018).

In 2004 she has received, by the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, in recognition of contributions made to measurement uncertainty theory, the 2004 Outstanding Young Engineer Award. In 2007, Simona Salicone is elected, by the Officers and Board of Directors of the IEEE, to the grade of IEEE Senior Member. In years 2013 to 2017, Simona Salicone has been part of the Academic Board of the PhD in Electrical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. Since 2014 until the end of 2016, she has been part of the Editorial Board of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Magazine, as the responsible of the column “Future Trends in Instrumentation & Measurements”. Since January 2016 until the end of 2017, Simona Salicone has been the Associate Editor in Chief of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Magazine. In 2016 Simona Salicone has received, in appreciation of outstanding service to IEEE Transaction on Instrumentation and Measurement, the recognition as one of the Transactions Outstanding Reviewers of 2015, by the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society. Simona Salicone is the winner of the 2016 IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Faculty Course Development Award.

In 2019, her monograph “Measuring Uncertainty within the Theory of Evidence” was among the top 25% most downloaded eBooks in its respective eBook Collection. In 2020, Simona Salicone has been recognized as a Top 70 Most Published Author of All Time by the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society – Transaction on Instrumentation and Measurement.

Since 2019, Simona is part of the Selection Committee of the IEEE Faculty Course Development Award. Since 2021, she has been part of the Editorial Board of the MDPI Metrology journal.