The ISO 25178 standard is considered by TC213 as first and foremost providing a redefinition of the foundations of surface texture, based upon the principle that nature is intrinsically 3D.
Several commercial packages provide part or all of the parameters defined in ISO 25178, such as MountainsMap from Digital Surf, SPIP from Image Metrology [2], TrueMap 6 from TrueGage [3], as well as the open source Gwyddion.
Next, the standard explores a number of these technologies in detail and dedicates two documents to each of them: Parts 601 and 701 describe the contact profilometer, using a diamond point to measure the surface with the assistance of a lateral scanning device.
Part 602 describes this type of non-contact profilometer, incorporating a single point white light chromatic confocal sensor.
The operating principle is based upon the chromatic dispersion of the white light source along the optical axis, via a confocal device, and the detection of the wavelength that is focused on the surface by a spectrometer.
The technique encompasses instruments that use spectrally broadband, visible sources (white light) to achieve interference fringe localization).
The operating principle is based on a microscope optics with limited depth of field and a CCD camera.