Judah Levine
ABSTRACT This report is on time transfer experiments using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver constructed using a commercial GPS “engine” and a standard PC. The receiver measures the time difference between the local clock and a 1 pps signal synchronized to GPS time using data from up to 8 satellites. The receiver also reports the difference between GPS time as estimated using each of the satellites being tracked and the composite output pulses that have a rate of 1 Hz (1 pps signal). These data can be used to construct the standard 13-minute tracks as defined in the BIPM standard; the same data also can be averaged in other ways that make better use of the multi-channel capabilities of the hardware. The 13-minute averages can be directly compared with standard time-transfer receivers using common-view analysis. The results of the tests suggest that the methods currently used for national and international time and frequency coordination should be re-examined, and an alternative approach based on multi-channel receivers is suggested that should be more flexible, simpler, and easier to operate than the current system.
1999 IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Vol. 46, pp. 392-398, 1999
U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. Copyright.