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DOE OSTI2022

Picosecond Synchronization System for Quantum Networks

The operation of long-distance quantum networks requires photons to be synchronized and must account for length variations of quantum channels. We demonstrate a 200 MHz clock-rate fiber optic-based telecommunication C-band quantum network using off-the-shelf components combined with custom-made electronics. The network is backed by a scalable and fully automated synchronization system with ps-scale timing resolution. Synchronization of the photons is achieved by distributing O-band-wavelength laser pulses between network nodes. Specifically, we distribute photon pairs between three nodes, and measure a reduction of coincidence-to-accidental ratio from 77 to only 42 when the synchronization system is enabled, which permits high-fidelity qubit transmission. Our demonstration sheds light on the role of noise in quantum communication and represents a key step in realizing deployed co-existing classical-quantum networks.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS1979

The frequency and time standard and activities at the Beijing Institute of Radio Metrology and Measurements

Three kinds of frequency measuring systems are described: frequency comparison, phase comparison, and time comparison. With the help of the portable cesium clock in determining the time delay between two stations, a time synchronization, experiment was conducted using the Symphonie satellite. A result with an accuracy of 30 ns and an uncertainty of about 10 ns was obtained. Another experiment, applying the television pulse technique for time synchronization, yielded a result with an error of about 0.5 mu s in 24 hours. In order to measure the short term frequency stability of crystal oscillators or other frequency sources, a rubidium maser atomic frequency standard was developed as well as a short term stability measuring system.

Wang, H. T.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Spacelab high density digital recorders

The design and performance of the high-density digital recorder (HDDR) developed for use at the NASA centers (KSC, JSC, and GSFC) and at the JPL to store and retrieve 50-Mb/s PCM data streams from the Spacelab experiments are reported. The recording reproduction, and transport requirements are reviewed; and the design solutions adopted in the final version of the HDDR are described, incuding three-position-modulation and Y-phase encoding, microprocessor-controlled automatic bit synchronization and equalization, cyclic-redundancy-check error detection and correction, clock regeneration, data and clock variations, tape-speed control, and EEE-488 remote control. Reliable performance, with bit error rates 1 in 10 to the 10th forward and 1 in 10 to the 9th reverse or better and packing density up to 50 percent greater than that obtainable using conventional codes, is reported after 1.5 years of service.

Blais, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Optoelectronic Receiver For Communication And Control

Many operational and diagnostic features integrated into circuit chip. GaAs-based integrated circuit designed to serve as optoelectronic interface in phased-array antenna. Intended function to receive digital control signals transmitted on optical fiber and to convert signals to electronic control signals, which then applied to monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC). Also used in reception of high-rate optical digital communications within computers, between computers, and in signal-distribution systems in aircraft, automobiles, and ships. Interface circuit represents significant improvement over preexisting interface circuits in that its clock-signal-recovery subcircuit requires little or no preamble for immediate synchronization.

Kunath, Richard↗

DOE OSTI2021

Empirical Evaluation of GPS Clock Accuracy for Isochronous Droop-Based Inverters: Preprint

Grid-forming inverters rely upon an internal reference to regulate the grid’s voltage and frequency. Without a reliable reference, issues such as loss of synchronism, frequency instability, and unequal power sharing can occur. One proposed internal phase reference for grid-forming inverters is generated by the controller’s clock, but this is affected by nonidealities in the crystal oscillator leading to time drift in the phase reference. To improve the controller’s clock accuracy, the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used to calibrate the internal clock. Previously, GPS-based clock calibration was explored theoretically and various methods were developed for mitigating frequency/phase drift at the power system level. This paper experimentally validates the direct performance of GPS time-calibration at the controller level and justifies its use in maintaining an accurate phase reference for droop-based grid-forming inverters.

clock drift↗

DOE OSTI2021

Empirical Evaluation of GPS Clock Accuracy for Isochronous Droop-based Inverters

Grid-forming inverters rely upon an internal reference to regulate the grid 's voltage and frequency. Without a reliable reference, issues such as loss of synchronism, frequency instability, and unequal power sharing can occur. One proposed internal phase reference for grid-forming inverters is generated by the controller's clock, but this is affected by nonidealities in the crystal oscillator leading to time drift in the phase reference. To improve the controller's clock accuracy, the Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used to calibrate the internal clock. Previously, GPS-based clock calibration was explored theoretically and various methods were developed for mitigating frequency/phase drift at the power system level. This paper experimentally validates the direct performance of GPS time-calibration at the controller level and justifies its use in maintaining an accurate phase reference for droop-based grid-forming inverters.

clock drift↗

NASA NTRS1983

Transport Control for High-Density Digital Recorder

Tape capstan drive motor speed controlled by phase-locked loop to keep data rate off of tape compatible with demand clock rate preventing deskewbuffer overflow or underflow. Immunity to speed perturbations caused by data dropouts is obtained by switching to different data-channel reference signal whenever dropout is detected by frame synchronizer in channel currently in use. Desired tape speed is selected by changing frequency of demand rate clock and changing divisor N in programable divider.

Matlin, M. D.↗

DOE OSTI2023

From primordial clocks to circadian oscillators

Circadian rhythms play an essential part in many biological processes, and only three prokaryotic proteins are required to constitute a true post-translational circadian oscillator1. The evolutionary history of the three Kai proteins indicates that KaiC is the oldest member and a central component of the clock. Subsequent additions of KaiB and KaiA regulate the phosphorylation state of KaiC for time synchronization. The canonical KaiABC system in cyanobacteria is well understood but little is known about more ancient systems that only possess KaiBC. However, there are reports that they might exhibit a basic, hourglass-like timekeeping mechanism. Here we investigate the primordial circadian clock in Rhodobacter sphaeroides , which contains only KaiBC, to elucidate its inner workings despite missing KaiA. Using a combination of X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy, we find a new dodecameric fold for KaiC, in which two hexamers are held together by a coiled-coil bundle of 12 helices. This interaction is formed by the carboxy-terminal extension of KaiC and serves as an ancient regulatory moiety that is later superseded by KaiA. A coiled-coil register shift between daytime and night-time conformations is connected to phosphorylation sites through a long-range allosteric network that spans over 140 Å. Our kinetic data identify the difference in the ATP-to-ADP ratio between day and night as the environmental cue that drives the clock. They also unravel mechanistic details that shed light on the evolution of self-sustained oscillators.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

Light quality modulates metabolic synchronization over the diel phases of crassulacean acid metabolism

Temporal compartmentation of carboxylation processes is a defining feature of crassulacean acid metabolism and involves circadian control of key metabolic and transport steps that regulate the supply and demand for carbon over a 24h cycle. Recent insights on the molecular workings of the circadian clock and its connection with environmental inputs raise new questions on the importance of light quality and, by analogy, certain photoreceptors for synchronizing the metabolic components of CAM. The present work tested the hypothesis that optimal coupling of stomatal conductance, net CO2 uptake, and the reciprocal turnover of carbohydrates and organic acids over the diel CAM cycle requires both blue and red light input signals. Contrasting monochromatic wavelengths of blue, green, and red light (i.e. 475, 530, 630nm) with low fluence rates (10 μmol m–2 s–1) were administered for 16 hours each diel cycle for a total treatment time of 48 hours to the obligate CAM bromeliad, Aechmea ‘Maya’. Of the light treatments imposed, low-fluence blue light was a key determinant in regulating stomatal responses, organic acid mobilization from the vacuole, and daytime decarboxylation. However, the reciprocal relationship between starch and organic acid turnover that is typical for CAM was uncoupled under low-fluence blue light. Under low-fluence red or green light, the diel turnover of storage carbohydrates was orchestrated in line with the requirements of CAM, but a consistent delay in acid consumption at dawn compared with plants under white or low-fluence blue light was noted. Consistent with the acknowledged influences of both red and blue light as input signals for the circadian clock, the data stress the importance of both red and blue-light signalling pathways for synchronizing the metabolic and physiological components of CAM over the day/night cycle.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

A seamless acquisition digital storage oscilloscope with three-dimensional waveform display

In traditional digital storage oscilloscope (DSO), sampled data need to be processed after each acquisition. During data processing, the acquisition is stopped and oscilloscope is blind to the input signal. Thus, this duration is called dead time. With the rapid development of modern electronic systems, the effect of infrequent events becomes significant. To capture these occasional events in shorter time, dead time in traditional DSO that causes the loss of measured signal needs to be reduced or even eliminated. In this paper, a seamless acquisition oscilloscope without dead time is proposed. In this oscilloscope, three-dimensional waveform mapping (TWM) technique, which converts sampled data to displayed waveform, is proposed. With this technique, not only the process speed is improved, but also the probability information of waveform is displayed with different brightness. Thus, a three-dimensional waveform is shown to the user. To reduce processing time further, parallel TWM which processes several sampled points simultaneously, and dual-port random access memory based pipelining technique which can process one sampling point in one clock period are proposed. Furthermore, two DDR3 (Double-Data-Rate Three Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) are used for storing sampled data alternately, thus the acquisition can continue during data processing. Therefore, the dead time of DSO is eliminated. In addition, a double-pulse test method is adopted to test the waveform capturing rate (WCR) of the oscilloscope and a combined pulse test method is employed to evaluate the oscilloscope's capture ability comprehensively. The experiment results show that the WCR of the designed oscilloscope is 6 250 000 wfms/s (waveforms per second), the highest value in all existing oscilloscopes. The testing results also prove that there is no dead time in our oscilloscope, thus realizing the seamless acquisition.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2024

Distributed Order Recording Techniques for Efficient Record-and-Replay of Multi-threaded Programs

After all these years and all these other shared memory programming frameworks, OpenMP is still the most popular one. However, its greater levels of non-deterministic execution makes debugging and testing more challenging. The ability to record and deterministically replay the program execution is key to address this challenge. However, scalably replaying OpenMP programs is still an unresolved problem. In this paper, we propose two novel techniques that use Distributed Clock (DC) and Distributed Epoch (DE) recording schemes to eliminate excessive thread synchronization for OpenMP record and replay. Our evaluation on representative HPC applications with ReOMP, which we used to realize DC and DE recording, shows that our approach is 2-5x more efficient than traditional approaches that synchronize on every shared-memory access. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our approach can be easily combined with MPI-level replay tools to replay non-trivial MPI+OpenMP applications. We achieve this by integrating ReOMP into ReMPI, an existing scalable MPI record-and-replay tool, with only a small MPI-scale-independent runtime overhead.

Fu, Xiang↗

NASA NTRS1980

Shuttle Ku-band and S-band communications implementation study

Various aspects of the shuttle orbiter S-band network communication system, the S-band payload communication system, and the Ku-band communication system are considered. A method is proposed for obtaining more accurate S-band antenna patterns of the actual shuttle orbiter vehicle during flight because the preliminary antenna patterns using mock-ups are not realistic that they do not include the effects of additional appendages such as wings and tail structures. The Ku-band communication system is discussed especially the TDRS antenna pointing accuracy with respect to the orbiter and the modifications required and resulting performance characteristics of the convolutionally encoded high data rate return link to maintain bit synchronizer lock on the ground. The TDRS user constraints on data bit clock jitter and data asymmetry on unbalanced QPSK with noisy phase references are included. The S-band payload communication system study is outlined including the advantages and experimental results of a peak regulator design built and evaluated by Axiomatrix for the bent-pipe link versus the existing RMS-type regulator. The nominal sweep rate for the deep-space transponder of 250 Hz/s, and effects of phase noise on the performance of a communication system are analyzed.

Dodds, J. G.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A synchronization technique for optical PPM signals

A technique for maintaining synchronization between optical PPM (pulse-position modulation) pulses and a receiver clock by means of a delay-tracking loop is described and analyzed. The tracking loop is driven by a doubly stochastic Poisson process that contains information about the location of the desired slot boundaries. The slot boundaries are subject to slowly varying random delays that are ultimately tracked by the loop. The concept of fractional rms delay error is introduced to quantify the effects of signal and background induced shot noise on the performance of the delay-tracking loop.

Vilnrotter, V. A.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A synchronization technique for optical PPM signals

Vilnrotter, V. A.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Use of Novel Light Sources and Melatonin Delivery Systems in the Maintenance of Temporal Organization of Physiological and Behavioral Circadian Rhythms

The synchronization of physiological and behavioral rhythms are controlled by an endogenous biological clock. It is generally accepted that environmental lighting is the strongest entrainer of this clock. The pineal gland is an important physiological transducer of environmental lighting via systemic melatonin secretion. We have used a novel light source using light emitting diode (LED) technology to entrain circadian rhythms in rats, and propose a novel percutaneous exogenous melatonin delivery system to entrain rat rhythms. We used 5 groups of Sprague-Dawley rats (175-350 g; N = 8/group) and showed normal entrainment of gross locomotor activity, feeding, and drinking circadian rhythms at light intensities varying from 80 lux to 0.1 lux (22.4 to 0.03 sq cm). To improve the delivery of melatonin across the skin stratum corneum it was formulated in a suitable vehicle in a transdermal drug delivery system. Various saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were used E, akin penetration enhancers. Our best vehicle formulation was achieved with a combination-of ethano1:water (60:40) along with 5% oleic acid as the enhancer. This formulation mixture was studied using Franz diffusion cell (0.636 sq cm diffusional area) and 1 cu cm dorsal skin isolated from Sprague Dawley rats. Our results showed that oleic acid in combination with the water ethanol mixture improved the flux of melatonin by more than 18 fold. The lag time for melatonin permeation was 2-3 hrs and the peak concentrations were achieved in 8-10 hrs. Our approaches in the future will involve the use of our transdermal melatonin delivery system and under the influence of LED light and microgravity.

Winget, C. M.↗

DOE OSTI2019

Optimum Full Information, Unlimited Complexity, Invariant and Minimax Clock Skew and Offset Estimators for IEEE 1588

This paper presents the problem of clock skew and offset estimation for the IEEE 1588 precision time protocol. Built on the classical two-way message exchange scheme, IEEE 1588 is a prominent synchronization protocol for packet switched networks. Because of the presence of random queuing delays in a packet switched network, the joint recovery of clock skew and offset from the received packet timestamps can be viewed as a statistical estimation problem. Recently, assuming perfect clock skew information, minimax optimum clock offset estimators were developed for IEEE 1588. Building on this work, we first develop joint optimum invariant clock skew and offset estimators for IEEE 1588 for known queuing delay statistics and unlimited computational complexity. We then show the developed estimators are minimax optimum, i.e., these estimators minimize the maximum skew normalized mean square estimation error over all possible values of the unknown parameters. Minimax optimum estimators that utilize information from past timestamps to improve accuracy are also introduced. The developed optimum estimators provide useful fundamental limits for evaluating the performance of clock skew and offset estimation schemes. These performance limits can aid system designers to develop algorithms with the desired computational complexity that achieve performance close to the performance of the optimum estimators. If a designer finds an approach with a complexity they find acceptable and which provides performance close to the optimum performance, they can use it and know they have near optimum performance. This is precisely the approach used in communications when comparing to capacity.

Cellular networks↗

NASA NTRS2003

Master clock and time distribution system for the NASA Deep Space Network

NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) consists of more than 20 antennas located at three globally spaced ground communications facilities. Local generation and distribution of precise time and frequency reference signals comprise an essential and central component of each complex. Within each complex synchronized timing references are required by approximately 100 users located at distances up to 30 kilometers from the central control center and station Master Clock. In this paper a highly modular, hot-swappable, and expandable system design for generation, delivery, and synchronization of highly precise and stable timing signals over fiber optic cables is described.

Tjoelker, R. L.↗

DOE OSTI2018

Quantum-authenticated clock signal

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method of distributing time information to enable synchronization in an authenticated manner via a quantum channel. A source device may transmit a timing signal, T on a communication channel from the source device to a receiver device. The timing signal T may be include a time or times stored in memory or calculated using a previously agreed upon formula. The method may include transmitting a quantum system Q from the source device to the receiver device. The quantum system may be prepared in a randomly chosen state and may be measured by the receiver device in a randomly chosen measurement basis.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗