Remote Frequency Measurement of TV 5 Rubidium

Abstract

This paper describes a method for remotely measuring oscillator frequency using an easily accessible carrier signal. The measurement was based on a system currently used onsite to compare time at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) versus USNO via a remotely accessible system. In our case, we are interested in characteristics of the remote system itself. The Washington DC Channel 5 TV station stabilizes the tenth frame of their color sub carrier frequency to a 1PPS signal from USNO with a rubidium oscillator. By performing a high accuracy phase comparison of the 2250 Hz TV5 signal to the 2250 Hz of our local house maser, we can determine the frequency drift of the TV5 rubidium oscillator in real time, to a few parts in 1010 to 1011 . A Windows-compatible computer program was written to facilitate this process. Due to the measured drift, the oscillator will be physically adjusted according to our recommendation during a trip to the TV 5 station this summer.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA485917

Entities

People

  • Doug Boehm
  • Rachel Gross

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atomic Beam Masers
  • Basic Programming Language
  • Buildings And Structures
  • Clocks
  • Elements
  • Frequency
  • Information Operations
  • Intervals
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Observatories
  • Research Facilities
  • Rubidium
  • Sine Waves
  • Time Intervals

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.