Publication Date:
2013-08-29
Description:
The precision of time transfer over intercontinental distances by the Global Positioning System common-view method, using measurements of ionospheric delays, precise ephemerides provided by the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) and a consistent set of antenna coordinates, reaches 3 to 4 ns for a single 13-minute measurement, and decreases to 2 ns when averaging several measurements over the period of one day. It is thought that even this level of precision can be bettered by improving the ionospheric measurements, the ephemerides of satellites, and the antenna coordinates. In the same conditions, an estimation of the accuracy is attained by using three intercontinental links encircling the Earth to establish a closure condition; the three independent links should add to zero. We have computed such a closure condition over a period of 13 months using data recorded at the Paris Observatory, at the Communications Research Laboratory in Tokyo, and at the National Institute for Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. The closure condition is verified to within a few nanoseconds, but a bias, varying with time, can be detected.
Keywords:
PHYSICS (GENERAL)
Type:
NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center, Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Applications and Planning Meeting; p 331-33
Format:
text
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