Time Synchronization Method Based on Real-Time Precise Point Positioning

<p>Precise point positioning (PPP) technique is an effective tool for time and frequency applications. Using phase/code observations and precise products, the PPP time transfer allows an accuracy of sub-nanoseconds within a latency of several days. Although the PPP time transfer is usually implemented in the post-processing mode, using the real-time PPP (RT-PPP) technique for time transfer with the shorter latency remains attractive to time community. In 2012, the IGS (International GNSS Service) launched an open-access real-time service (RTS) project, broadcasting satellite orbit and clock corrections on the Internet, which enables PPP time transfer in the real-time mode. In this contribution, we apply the RT-PPP for high-precision time transfer and synchronization. The GNSS receiver is required to be equipped with an atomic clock as the external local clock. We use the RT-PPP technique to compute the receiver clock offset with respective to the GNSS time scale. On the basis of clock offsets, we steer the local clock by frequency adjustment method. In this way, all the local clocks are synchronized to the GNSS time scale, making local clocks synchronized with each other.</p><p>The time scales of the RTS products are evaluated at first. Six kinds of the RTS products (IGS01, CLK10, CLK53, CLK80 and CLK93) on DOY220-247, 2019 are pre-saved to compute the receiver clock offsets. The clock offset with respect to the GPST (GPS Time) obtained from the IGS final product is applied as the reference. The standard deviations (STDs) of the clock offsets with respect to the reference are 0.63, 1.76, 0.28, 0.27 and 1.28 ns for IGS01, CLK10, CLK53, CLK80 and CLK93, respectively.</p><p>Finally, we set up a hardware system to examine the validity of our time synchronization method. The baseline of the time synchronization experiment is about 5 m. The synchronization error of the 1 PPS outputs is precisely measured by the frequency counter. The STD of the 4-days results is about 0.48 ns. The peak-to-peak value of the synchronization error is about 2.5 ns.</p>

Circadian control of intrinsic heart rate via a sinus node clock and the pacemaker channel

ABSTRACTIn the human, there is a circadian rhythm in the resting heart rate and it is higher during the day in preparation for physical activity. Conversely, slow heart rhythms (bradyarrhythmias) occur primarily at night. Although the lower heart rate at night is widely assumed to be neural in origin (the result of high vagal tone), the objective of the study was to test whether there is an intrinsic change in heart rate driven by a local circadian clock. In the mouse, there was a circadian rhythm in the heart rate in vivo in the conscious telemetrized animal, but there was also a circadian rhythm in the intrinsic heart rate in denervated preparations: the Langendorff-perfused heart and isolated sinus node. In the sinus node, experiments (qPCR and bioluminescence recordings in mice with a Per1 luciferase reporter) revealed functioning canonical clock genes, e.g. Bmal1 and Per1. We identified a circadian rhythm in the expression of key ion channels, notably the pacemaker channel Hcn4 (mRNA and protein) and the corresponding ionic current (funny current, measured by whole cell patch clamp in isolated sinus node cells). Block of funny current in the isolated sinus node abolished the circadian rhythm in the intrinsic heart rate. Incapacitating the local clock (by cardiac-specific knockout of Bmal1) abolished the normal circadian rhythm of Hcn4, funny current and the intrinsic heart rate. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that Hcn4 is a transcriptional target of BMAL1 establishing a pathway by which the local clock can regulate heart rate. In conclusion, there is a circadian rhythm in the intrinsic heart rate as a result of a local circadian clock in the sinus node that drives rhythmic expression of Hcn4. The data reveal a novel regulator of heart rate and mechanistic insight into the occurrence of bradyarrhythmias at night.

Local and relaxed clocks: the best of both worlds

Time-resolved phylogenetic methods use information about the time of sample collection to estimate the rate of evolution. Originally, the models used to estimate evolutionary rates were quite simple, assuming that all lineages evolve at the same rate, an assumption commonly known as the molecular clock. Richer and more complex models have since been introduced to capture the phenomenon of substitution rate variation among lineages. Two well known model extensions are the local clock, wherein all lineages in a clade share a common substitution rate, and the uncorrelated relaxed clock, wherein the substitution rate on each lineage is independent from other lineages while being constrained to fit some parametric distribution. We introduce a further model extension, called the flexible local clock (FLC), which provides a flexible framework to combine relaxed clock models with local clock models. We evaluate the flexible local clock on simulated and real datasets and show that it provides substantially improved fit to an influenza dataset. An implementation of the model is available for download from https://www.github.com/4ment/flc.

Local and relaxed clocks, the best of both worlds

Time-resolved phylogenetic methods use information about the time of sample collection to estimate the rate of evolution. Originally, the models used to estimate evolutionary rates were quite simple, assuming that all lineages evolve at the same rate, an assumption commonly known as the molecular clock. Richer and more complex models have since been introduced to capture the phenomenon of substitution rate variation among lineages. Two well known model extensions are the local clock, wherein all lineages in a clade share a common substitution rate, and the uncorrelated relaxed clock, wherein the substitution rate on each lineage is independent from other lineages while being constrained to fit some parametric distribution. We introduce a further model extension, called the flexible local clock (FLC), which provides a flexible framework to combine relaxed clock models with local clock models. We evaluate the flexible local clock on simulated and real datasets and show that it provides substantially improved fit to an influenza dataset. An implementation of the model is available for download from https://www.github.com/4ment/flc.

Local and relaxed clocks, the best of both worlds

Time-resolved phylogenetic methods use information about the time of sample collection to estimate the rate of evolution. Originally, the models used to estimate evolutionary rates were quite simple, assuming that all lineages evolve at the same rate, an assumption commonly known as the molecular clock. Richer and more complex models have since been introduced to capture the phenomenon of substitution rate variation among lineages. Two well known model extensions are the local clock, wherein all lineages in a clade share a common substitution rate, and the uncorrelated relaxed clock, wherein the substitution rate on each lineage is independent from other lineages while being constrained to fit some parametric distribution. We introduce a further model extension, called the flexible local clock (FLC), which provides a flexible framework to combine relaxed clock models with local clock models. We evaluate the flexible local clock on simulated and real datasets and show that it provides substantially improved fit to an influenza dataset. An implementation of the model is available for download from https://www.github.com/4ment/flc.