High-Accuracy Optical Frequency Atomic Clock

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-7
Author(s):  
Myoung-Sun HEO ◽  
Dai-Hyuk YU ◽  
Won-Kyu LEE

Frequencies have been the most accurately measured physical quantity since the second was defined in 1967 based on the microwave atomic transition of a Cs atom. Recently, atomic clocks using optical frequency transitions have shown an order of magnitude better accuracy than microwave clocks. Thanks to their high accuracy and resolution, atomic clocks have become a new tool for investigations involving fundamental science and technology, such as the search for dark matter, gravitational wave detection, the temporal variation of fundamental constants, relativistic geodesy, quantum metrology, and the advanced Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). In addition, a redefinition of the second based on the optical frequency is expected. In this paper, we review the principles and applications of optical clocks.

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (06) ◽  
pp. 1533-1549
Author(s):  
X.M. Huang ◽  
X. Zhao ◽  
J.Y. Li ◽  
X.W. Zhu ◽  
G. Ou

An algorithm for Global Navigation Satellite System satellite atomic clock integrity monitoring based on an extended measurement model is proposed. A detection statistic achieved by parity transformation is used to detect clock anomalies, and the concept of the optimal accumulation number, with a method to find it, is provided. Numerical simulations are adopted to verify the validity of detecting two typical anomalies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 1559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Xu ◽  
Xilong Wang ◽  
Jingnan Liu ◽  
Qile Zhao

The Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System has provided a global-coverage service since 27 December 2018. Eighteen BD3 MEO satellites have been launched into space during 2017 and 2018. The signal constitution has been redesigned and four open service signals are used for transmission, including B1I, B1C, B2a and B3I. This paper focuses on the signal performance, Precise Orbit Determination (POD) and the atomic clock’s frequency stability issues of the BD3 satellites. The satellite-induced code bias issue found in BD2 satellites multipath combination has been proven to be eliminated in BD3 satellites. However, the pseudorange code of B1C is much noisier than that of other three frequencies, which may be related to the signal constitution and power distribution, as the minimum received power levels on the ground of B1C is 3 dB lower than that of the B2a signal. Similar results were achieved by the Ionosphere-Free combination residuals in POD using four signals, B1I-B3I, B1I-B2a, B1C-B3I and B1C-B2a, and the phase residual of B1C-B2a combination performed best. Considering the noise amplitude and compatibility with other GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), the B1C-B2a combination is recommended in priority for precise GNSS data processing. GFIFP combinations were also implemented to evaluate the inter-frequency phase bias of the four signals. The experimental results showed that the systematic signal with an amplitude of about 2 cm could be found in the GFIFP series. In addition, multi-GNSS POD was performed and analyzed as well, using about a hundred global-distributed IGS and iGMAS stations. Furthermore, the atomic clock’s frequency stability was estimated using the parameters of clock bias calculated in POD and the Overlap Allan Deviations showed that the frequency stability of BD3 reached approximately 2.43 × 10−14 at intervals of 10,000 s and 2.51 × 10−15 at intervals of 86,400 s, which was better than that of the GPS BLOCK IIF satellites but worse than that of Galileo satellites.


GPS Solutions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankit Jain ◽  
Thomas Krawinkel ◽  
Steffen Schön ◽  
Andreas Bauch

Abstract Miniaturized atomic clocks with high frequency stability as local oscillators in global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers promise to improve real-time kinematic applications. For a number of years, such oscillators are being investigated regarding their overall technical applicability, i.e., transportability, and performance in dynamic environments. The short-term frequency stability of these clocks is usually specified by the manufacturer, being valid for stationary applications. Since the performance of most oscillators is likely degraded in dynamic conditions, various oscillators are tested to find the limits of receiver clock modeling in dynamic cases and consequently derive adequate stochastic models to be used in navigation. We present the performance of three different oscillators (Microsemi MAC SA.35m, Spectratime LCR-900 and Stanford Research Systems SC10) for static and dynamic applications. For the static case, all three oscillators are characterized in terms of their frequency stability at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany's national metrology institute. The resulting Allan deviations agree well with the manufacturer's data. Furthermore, a flight experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the oscillators under dynamic conditions. Here, each oscillator is replacing the internal oscillator of a geodetic-grade GNSS receiver and the stability of the receiver clock biases is determined. The time and frequency offsets of the oscillators are characterized with regard to the flight dynamics recorded by a navigation-grade inertial measurement unit. The results of the experiment show that the frequency stability of each oscillator is degraded by about at least one order of magnitude compared to the static case. Also, the two quartz oscillators show a significant g-sensitivity resulting in frequency shifts of − 1.2 × 10−9 and + 1.5 × 10−9, respectively, while the rubidium clocks are less sensitive, thus enabling receiver clock modeling and strengthening of the navigation performance even in high dynamics.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Rizos ◽  
Ling Yang

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is the most widely used Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) technology in the world today, but it suffers some major constraints. Locata is a terrestrial PNT technology that can be considered as a type of localised “constellation”, which is able to provide high-accuracy PNT coverage where GNSS cannot be used. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of the Locata technology and its applications. It seeks to answer questions, such as: (1) What is Locata and how does it work? (2) What makes Locata unique compared with other terrestrial positioning systems? (3) How has Locata been used in different applications for accurate PNT? (4) What are the current challenging issues that may restrict its further adoption for custom-grade navigation in urban environments?


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Borejko ◽  
Krzysztof Marcinek ◽  
Krzysztof Siwiec ◽  
Paweł Narczyk ◽  
Adam Borkowski ◽  
...  

A dual-frequency all-in-one Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver with a multi-core 32-bit RISC (reduced instruction set computing) application processor was integrated and manufactured as a System-on-Chip (SoC) in a 110 nm CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process. The GNSS RF (radio frequency) front-end with baseband navigation engine is able to receive, simultaneously, Galileo (European Global Satellite Navigation System) E1/E5ab, GPS (US Global Positioning System) L1/L1C/L5, BeiDou (Chinese Navigation Satellite System) B1/B2, GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System of Russian Government) L1/L3/L5, QZSS (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System development by the Japanese government) L1/L5 and IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) L5, as well as all SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System) signals. The ability of the GNSS to detect such a broad range of signals allows for high-accuracy positioning. The whole SoC (system-on-chip), which is connected to a small passive antenna, provides precise position, velocity and time or raw GNSS data for hybridization with the IMU (inertial measurement unit) without the need for an external application processor. Additionally, user application can be executed directly in the SoC. It works in the −40 to +105 °C temperature range with a 1.5 V supply. The assembled test-chip takes 100 pins in a QFN (quad-flat no-leads) package and needs only a quartz crystal for the on-chip reference clock driver and optional SAW (surface acoustic wave) filters. The radio performance for both wideband (52 MHz) channels centered at L1/E1 and L5/E5 is NF = 2.3 dB, G = 131 dB, with 121 dBc/Hz of phase noise @ 1 MHz offset from the carrier, consumes 35 mW and occupies a 4.5 mm2 silicon area. The SoC reported in the paper is the first ever dual-frequency single-chip GNSS receiver equipped with a multi-core application microcontroller integrated with embedded flash memory for the user application program.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1022
Author(s):  
Qinming Chen ◽  
Shuli Song ◽  
Weili Zhou

With the development of the global navigation satellite system(GNSS), the hourly ultra-rapid products of GNSS are attracting more attention due to their low latency and high accuracy. A new strategy and method was applied by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) Analysis Center (AC) of the international GNSS Monitoring and Assessment Service (iGMAS) for generating 6-hourly and 1-hourly GNSS products, which mainly include the American Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian Global’naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikova Sistema (GLONASS), the European Union’s Galileo, and the Chinese BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS). The 6-hourly and 1-hourly GNSS orbit and clock ultra-rapid products included a 24-h observation session which is determined by 24-h observation data from global tracking stations, and a 24-h prediction session which is predicted from the observation session. The accuracy of the 1-hourly orbit product improved about 1%, 31%, 13%, 11%, 23%, and 9% for the observation session and 18%, 43%, 45%, 34%, 53%, and 15% for the prediction session of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO), and GEO orbit, when compared with reference products with high accuracy from the International GNSS service (IGS).The precision of the 1-hourly clock products can also be seen better than the 6-hourly clock products. The accuracy and precision of the 6-hourly and 1-hourly orbit and clock verify the availability and reliability of the hourly ultra-rapid products, which can be used for real-time or near-real-time applications, and show encouraging prospects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Guanwen Huang

AbstractThe Fractional Cycle Bias (FCB) product is crucial for the Ambiguity Resolution (AR) in Precise Point Positioning (PPP). Different from the traditional method using the ionospheric-free ambiguity which is formed by the Wide Lane (WL) and Narrow Lane (NL) combinations, the uncombined PPP model is flexible and effective to generate the FCB products. This study presents the FCB estimation method based on the multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) precise satellite orbit and clock corrections from the international GNSS Monitoring and Assessment System (iGMAS) observations using the uncombined PPP model. The dual-frequency raw ambiguities are combined by the integer coefficients (4,− 3) and (1,− 1) to directly estimate the FCBs. The details of FCB estimation are described with the Global Positioning System (GPS), BeiDou-2 Navigation Satellite System (BDS-2) and Galileo Navigation Satellite System (Galileo). For the estimated FCBs, the Root Mean Squares (RMSs) of the posterior residuals are smaller than 0.1 cycles, which indicates a high consistency for the float ambiguities. The stability of the WL FCBs series is better than 0.02 cycles for the three GNSS systems, while the STandard Deviation (STD) of the NL FCBs for BDS-2 is larger than 0.139 cycles. The combined FCBs have better stability than the raw series. With the multi-GNSS FCB products, the PPP AR for GPS/BDS-2/Galileo is demonstrated using the raw observations. For hourly static positioning results, the performance of the PPP AR with the three-system observations is improved by 42.6%, but only 13.1% for kinematic positioning results. The results indicate that precise and reliable positioning can be achieved with the PPP AR of GPS/BDS-2/Galileo, supported by multi-GNSS satellite orbit, clock, and FCB products based on iGMAS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1621
Author(s):  
Duojie Weng ◽  
Shengyue Ji ◽  
Yangwei Lu ◽  
Wu Chen ◽  
Zhihua Li

The differential global navigation satellite system (DGNSS) is an enhancement system that is widely used to improve the accuracy of single-frequency receivers. However, distance-dependent errors are not considered in conventional DGNSS, and DGNSS accuracy decreases when baseline length increases. In network real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning, distance-dependent errors are accurately modelled to enable ambiguity resolution on the user side, and standard Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) formats have also been developed to describe the spatial characteristics of distance-dependent errors. However, the network RTK service was mainly developed for carrier-phase measurements on professional user receivers. The purpose of this study was to modify the local-area DGNSS through the use of network RTK corrections. Distance-dependent errors can be reduced, and accuracy for a longer baseline length can be improved. The results in the low-latitude areas showed that the accuracy of the modified DGNSS could be improved by more than 50% for a 17.9 km baseline during solar active years. The method in this paper extends the use of available network RTK corrections with high accuracy to normal local-area DGNSS applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Shi ◽  
Xuebin Zhuang ◽  
Liwei Xie

AbstractThe autonomous navigation of the spacecrafts in High Elliptic Orbit (HEO), Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) are considered feasible in many studies. With the completion of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System with Global Coverage (BDS-3) in 2020, there are at least 130 satellites providing Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services. In this paper, considering the latest CZ-5(Y3) launch scenario of Shijian-20 GEO spacecraft via Super-Synchronous Transfer Orbit (SSTO) in December 2019, the navigation performance based on the latest BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo Navigation Satellite System (Galileo) and GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) satellites in 2020 is evaluated, including the number of visible satellites, carrier to noise ratio, Doppler, and Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP). The simulation results show that the GEO/Inclined Geo-Synchronous Orbit (IGSO) navigation satellites of BDS-3 can effectively increase the number of visible satellites and improve the PDOP in the whole launch process of a typical GEO spacecraft, including SSTO and GEO, especially for the GEO spacecraft on the opposite side of Asia-Pacific region. The navigation performance of high orbit spacecrafts based on multi-GNSSs can be significantly improved by the employment of BDS-3. This provides a feasible solution for autonomous navigation of various high orbit spacecrafts, such as SSTO, MEO, GEO, and even Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO) for the lunar exploration mission.


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