On the possibility of getting traceable time and frequency measurements via GNSS receivers

Abstract

AbstractThe realization of Coordinated Universal Time, one of the tasks of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, relies on a network of international time links which currently is organized in a star-like scheme that links all contributing laboratories. GPS signal reception is the technique most widely employed by the laboratories. The PTB currently plays a unique role in the process due to its function as the central pivot in the time transfer between the participating laboratories. We discuss how the PTB meets its obligations to the international timekeeping community as well as to its users in Germany. In its role as an National Metrology Institute (NMI), PTB is entrusted with the realization and dissemination of legal time in Germany. The services were offered to the public support measurements and timing applications traceable to the national and international standards to be made in calibration laboratories and in many industrial sectors. We thus discuss the meaning and definition of traceability, how different GNSS systems can be used to establish traceability and their performance in doing so.