Time and Frequency Activities at the U.S. Naval Observatory

Abstract

The U. S. Naval Observatory "USNO" has provided timing for the Navy and the Department of Defense since 1830 and, in cooperation with other institutions, has also provided timing for the United States and the international community. Its Master Clock "MC" is the source of UTC "USNO", which has stayed within 5 ns of UTC in the past year, with an rms deviation of 3 ns. The data used to generate UTC "USNO" are based upon 72 HP5071 cesium and 18 hydrogen maser frequency standards in three buildings at two sites. The USNO disseminates time via voice, telephone modem LORAN, Network Time Protocol "NTP", GPS and Two-Way Satellite Time Transfer "TWSTT". The USNO would not be able to meet all the requirements of its users had it kept to the same technology it had 10 years ago; this paper will describe some of the changes being made to meet the anticipated needs of our users. While we aim to increase our accuracy and precision, we deem it equally important to bring about robustness, and we recommend this for our users as well.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA485062

Entities

People

  • Demetrios N. Matsakis

Organizations

  • United States Naval Observatory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Atomic Beam Masers
  • Clocks
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Standards
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Ku Band
  • Masers
  • Measurement
  • Observatories
  • Precision
  • Standards
  • Time Intervals
  • Uninterruptible Power Supplies
  • United States
  • Urban Areas

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Space