PTTI Systems on the Eastern Test Range
Abstract
The Eastern Test Range (ETR) is a missile and rocket testing facility available to military and commercial users for the launching and testing of space vehicles. The ETR provides over 4,000 nautical miles of tracking coverage of those vehicles from four major land-based tracking stations and one shipboard tracking station. At each station there are a myriad of Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) requirements that must be met. The most demanding requirements are: synchronization accuracy to the United States Naval Observatory (IJSNO) Master Clock to 100 nanoseconds, frequency accuracy of I. x 10" (Tau = 1 day), no single point of failure and continuous (24 hours per day, 365 day per year) PTTI operation. This paper will update a similar paper delivered at the Eighteenth Annual PTTI Applications and Planning Meeting and will describe the techniques employed to meet all of the ETR's PTTI requirements. Philosophical notions such as range PTTI service is much like a highly reliable utility service, synchronization from GPS should not be overemphasized, and gradual corrections are preferred to step corrections will be presented.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA508127
Entities
People
- Christopher S. Duffy
- James L. Wright