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GPS Timing
GPS provides the timing reference for most precision
time & frequency products today.
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The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a 24-satellite constellation owned and operated by the
U.S. Government as a national resource. The Department of Defense (DOD) is the "steward"
of GPS, and as such, is responsible to operate the system in accordance with the signal specification.
GPS is primarily used for navigation purposes and it can
tell you where you are in 3-dimensions (latitude, longitude, and altitude).
GPS solutions can tell you your exact position on
the Earth anytime and anywhere. A lesser known capability of GPS is its ability to
tell you exactly what time it is down to the 100-nanosecond level.
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| GPS Satellite. |
GPS provides the timing reference for the vast majority
of precision time and frequency products today. Inexpensive navigation
"engines" are available from several large manufacturers, such
as Motorola and Trimble Navigation, that can provide a 1 Pulse Per Second (1PPS)
output generally accurate to about 100 nanoseconds. By themselves, these navigation engines
are not stable enough for precision timing applications. So
we integrate the reference timing provided by these engines with sophisticated software
algorithms that perform integrity monitoring and frequency control.
The result is a very stable and reliable
time reference that can be used as the synchronization source for Stratum 1 Network
Time Servers.
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