When the roughness meter measures the surface roughness of the workpiece, the sensor is placed on the measured surface of the workpiece, and the driving mechanism inside the instrument drives the sensor to slide along the measured surface at a constant speed. The sensor feels the roughness of the measured surface through the built-in sharp stylus. At this time, the roughness of the measured surface of the workpiece causes the displacement of the stylus, and the displacement changes the inductance of the sensor inductance coil, thereby generating an analog signal proportional to the measured surface roughness at the output of the phase-sensitive rectifier. The signal enters the data acquisition system after amplification and level conversion.