Anticipated Uncertainty Budgets of Praretime and T2L2 Techniques as Applied to Extras

Abstract

The Experiment on Timing Ranging and Atmospheric Soundings, ExTRAS, was conceived jointly by the European Space Agency, ESA, and the Russian Space Agency, RSA. It is also designated the 'Hydrogen-maser in Space/Meteor-3M project'. The launch of the satellite is scheduled for early 1997. The package, to be flown on board a Russian meteorological satellite includes ultra-stable frequency and time sources, namely two active and auto-tuned hydrogen masers. Communication between the on-board hydrogen masers and the ground station clocks is effected by means of a microwave link using the modified version for time transfer of the Precise Range And Range-rate Equipment, PRARETIME, technique, and an optical link which uses the Time Transfer by Laser Link, T2L2, method. Both the PRARETIME and T2L2 techniques operate in a two-directional mode, which makes it possible to carry out accurate transmissions without precise knowledge of the satellite and station positions. Due to the exceptional quality of the on-board clocks and to the high performance of the communication techniques with the satellite, satellite clock monitoring and ground clocks synchronization are anticipated to be performed with uncertainties below 0.5 ns (1 sigma). Uncertainty budgets and related comments are presented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA518806

Entities

People

  • C. Veillet
  • Christoph Thomas
  • H. Nau
  • P. Uhrich
  • P. Wolf
  • W. Schaefer

Organizations

  • International Bureau of Weights and Measures

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Atomic Beam Masers
  • Electronic Circuits
  • Frequency
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Ground Stations
  • Measurement
  • Navigation
  • Navigation Satellites
  • Observatories
  • Payload
  • Satellite Orbits
  • Stations
  • Time Intervals
  • Transportation
  • Uncertainty

Readers

  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space
  • Space - Satellites