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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

A comparison of the cesium and hydrogen hyperfine frequencies by means of Loran-C and portable clocks

A comparison of the hydrogen and cesium hyperfine frequencies is made using a hydrogen maser calibrated directly against the Flexible Bulb Large Storage Box Hydrogen Maser and a Hewlett-Packard portable high performance cesium clock calibrated indirectly against the USNO Master Clock via a Loran-C link. The portable cesium clock is transported from the USNO to Harvard University in operating condition. This allows the evaluation of the portable clock's performance under transport. Data are presented on the epoch and frequency stability of the portable clock under transport as well as the usefulness of a closure measurement in determining clock drift.

Reinhardt, V. S.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Clock performance, reliability and cost interrelationships

Problems encountered by clock manufacturers in attempting to supply reasonably priced, reliable clocks for critical aerospace applications arise from the inherent technical difficulties of designing and fabricating equipment to provide performance at the limits of the state of the art in demanding environments. The difficulties are compounded by inconsistent and unstandardized specification practices, and by an emphasis on initial acquisition costs, rather than on life cycle costs. Conventional parts stress analyses, which do not provide a useful indication of the reliability of a clock, lead to increased parts costs for high performance aerospace clocks without comensurate benefits in improved reliability or performance. The characterization of clocks in terms of the mean time between resynchronizations, facilitates the estimation of life cycle costs and provides a means to evaluate clocks in a realistic fashion for specific systems applications.

Levine, M. W.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Precise time dissemination via portable atomic clocks

The most precise operational method of time dissemination over long distances presently available to the Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) community of users is by means of portable atomic clocks. The Global Positioning System (GPS), the latest system showing promise of replacing portable clocks for global PTTI dissemination, was evaluated. Although GPS has the technical capability of providing superior world-wide dissemination, the question of present cost and future accessibility may require a continued reliance on portable clocks for a number of years. For these reasons a study of portable clock operations as they are carried out today was made. The portable clock system that was utilized by the U.S. Naval Observatory (NAVOBSY) in the global synchronization of clocks over the past 17 years is described and the concepts on which it is based are explained. Some of its capabilities and limitations are also discussed.

Putkovich, K.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Maser and secondary clock in telecommunications networks

Telecommunication networks of time division switches, interconnected by digital transmission are being put into place. At each switch, each incoming bit stream is brought into its own buffer. Then the clock in the switch reads each buffer to re-establish phase. Care must be taken to keep frequency differences between various clocks from becoming too large. Based on empirically defined data transmission requirements, one major network has determined that fractional frequency inequality between switches should be no worse than 1.7 X 10 to the minus 9 power. A network needs near frequency equality between its own switches, and also between its switches and other networks with which it interfaces. As a practical matter, the best way to achieve needed frequency equality is for each network to have master clock with an accuracy which is at least as good as 1 X 10 to the minus 10 power. The relationship between the master and the secondary clock is discussed. The questions of master clock accuracy and precision and the free-running capability of the secondary clocks are examined.

Risley, A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Laser clocks and near field gravity of rotating objects

This work explores the feasibliity of using high performance laser clocks to detect effects of rotation in the near field region of the Earth's gravitational field. According to general relativity, the time recorded by an independent clock is the proper time of the space-time metric that applies to the system under consideration. If the gravitational source is stationary (nonrotating), proper time involves only the speed of the clocks and the scalar gravitational potential at the position of the clocks. However, if the source is rotating, the motion of the source could have an effect on the metric. Previous attempts to calculate the relativistic timekeeping for terrestrial clocks have used the metric for a nonrotating system, primarily because metrics for a rotating system were not available. This work investigates the specific effects of rotation on the Earth's gravitational field and the corresponding effect on timekeeping of laser clocks in the near field environment.

Hafele, Joseph C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Verification of fault-tolerant clock synchronization systems

A critical function in a fault-tolerant computer architecture is the synchronization of the redundant computing elements. The synchronization algorithm must include safeguards to ensure that failed components do not corrupt the behavior of good clocks. Reasoning about fault-tolerant clock synchronization is difficult because of the possibility of subtle interactions involving failed components. Therefore, mechanical proof systems are used to ensure that the verification of the synchronization system is correct. In 1987, Schneider presented a general proof of correctness for several fault-tolerant clock synchronization algorithms. Subsequently, Shankar verified Schneider's proof by using the mechanical proof system EHDM. This proof ensures that any system satisfying its underlying assumptions will provide Byzantine fault-tolerant clock synchronization. The utility of Shankar's mechanization of Schneider's theory for the verification of clock synchronization systems is explored. Some limitations of Shankar's mechanically verified theory were encountered. With minor modifications to the theory, a mechanically checked proof is provided that removes these limitations. The revised theory also allows for proven recovery from transient faults. Use of the revised theory is illustrated with the verification of an abstract design of a clock synchronization system.

Miner, Paul S.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Future Laser-Cooled Microwave Clock Performance

Limitations to the performance of laser-cooled earth and space-based Cs clocks will be critically discussed. The most significant limitation to the stability and accuracy of laser-cooled atomic clocks is the frequency shift due to cold collisions. Because of it, laser-cooled Cs clocks must be operated at low density and this implies that space based Cs clock performance will not be significantly better than earth based. To regain some of the high accuracy and stability lost to the low density, clocks can be designed to multiply launch (or juggle) atoms. Clocks based on other atoms, in particular Rb-87 or possibly Rb-85, may have much smaller cold collision frequency shifts and therefore be capable of higher stability and accuracy, especially in a space environment.

Gibble, Kurt↗
NASA NTRS2004

Applications of Clocks to Space Navigation & "Planetary GPS"

The ability to fly atomic clocks on GPS satellites has profoundly defined the capabilities and limitations of GPS in near-Earth applications. It is likely that future infrastructure for Lunar and Mars applications will be constrained by financial factors. The development of a low cost, small, high performance space clock -- or ultrahigh performance space clocks -- could revolutionize and drive the entire approach to GPS-like systems at the Moon (or Mars), and possibly even change the future of GPS at Earth. Many system trade studies are required. The performance of future GPS-like tracking systems at the Moon or Mars will depend critically on clock performance, availability of inertial sensors, and constellation coverage. Example: present-day GPS carry 10(exp -13) clocks and require several updates per day. With 10(exp -15) clocks, a constellation at Mars could operate autonomously with updates just once per month. Use of GPS tracking at the Moon should be evaluated in a technical study.

Lichten, Stephen M.↗
NASA NTRS2006

A Byzantine-Fault Tolerant Self-Stabilizing Protocol for Distributed Clock Synchronization Systems

Embedded distributed systems have become an integral part of safety-critical computing applications, necessitating system designs that incorporate fault tolerant clock synchronization in order to achieve ultra-reliable assurance levels. Many efficient clock synchronization protocols do not, however, address Byzantine failures, and most protocols that do tolerate Byzantine failures do not self-stabilize. Of the Byzantine self-stabilizing clock synchronization algorithms that exist in the literature, they are based on either unjustifiably strong assumptions about initial synchrony of the nodes or on the existence of a common pulse at the nodes. The Byzantine self-stabilizing clock synchronization protocol presented here does not rely on any assumptions about the initial state of the clocks. Furthermore, there is neither a central clock nor an externally generated pulse system. The proposed protocol converges deterministically, is scalable, and self-stabilizes in a short amount of time. The convergence time is linear with respect to the self-stabilization period. Proofs of the correctness of the protocol as well as the results of formal verification efforts are reported.

Malekpour, Mahyar R.↗
NASA NTRS2006

A Byzantine-Fault Tolerant Self-Stabilizing Protocol for Distributed Clock Synchronization Systems

Embedded distributed systems have become an integral part of safety-critical computing applications, necessitating system designs that incorporate fault tolerant clock synchronization in order to achieve ultra-reliable assurance levels. Many efficient clock synchronization protocols do not, however, address Byzantine failures, and most protocols that do tolerate Byzantine failures do not self-stabilize. Of the Byzantine self-stabilizing clock synchronization algorithms that exist in the literature, they are based on either unjustifiably strong assumptions about initial synchrony of the nodes or on the existence of a common pulse at the nodes. The Byzantine self-stabilizing clock synchronization protocol presented here does not rely on any assumptions about the initial state of the clocks. Furthermore, there is neither a central clock nor an externally generated pulse system. The proposed protocol converges deterministically, is scalable, and self-stabilizes in a short amount of time. The convergence time is linear with respect to the self-stabilization period. Proofs of the correctness of the protocol as well as the results of formal verification efforts are reported.

Malekpour, Mahyar R.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Inexpensive Clock for Displaying Planetary or Sidereal Time

An inexpensive wall clock has been devised for displaying solar time or sidereal time as it would be perceived on a planet other than the Earth, or for displaying sidereal time on the Earth. The concept of a wall clock synchronized to a period other than the terrestrial mean solar day is not new in itself. What is new here is that the clock is realized through a relatively simple electronic modification of a common battery-powered, quartz-crystal-oscillator-driven wall clock. The essence of the modification is to shut off the internal oscillator of the clock and replace the internal-oscillator output signal with a signal of the required frequency generated by an external oscillator. The unmodified clock electronic circuitry includes a quartz crystal connected to an integrated circuit (IC) that includes, among other parts, a buffer amplifier that conditions the oscillator output. The modification is effected by removing the quartz crystal and connecting the output terminal of the external oscillator, via a capacitor, to the input terminal of the buffer amplifier

Lux, James↗
NASA NTRS2012

Sample-Clock Phase-Control Feedback

To demodulate a communication signal, a receiver must recover and synchronize to the symbol timing of a received waveform. In a system that utilizes digital sampling, the fidelity of synchronization is limited by the time between the symbol boundary and closest sample time location. To reduce this error, one typically uses a sample clock in excess of the symbol rate in order to provide multiple samples per symbol, thereby lowering the error limit to a fraction of a symbol time. For systems with a large modulation bandwidth, the required sample clock rate is prohibitive due to current technological barriers and processing complexity. With precise control of the phase of the sample clock, one can sample the received signal at times arbitrarily close to the symbol boundary, thus obviating the need, from a synchronization perspective, for multiple samples per symbol. Sample-clock phase-control feedback was developed for use in the demodulation of an optical communication signal, where multi-GHz modulation bandwidths would require prohibitively large sample clock frequencies for rates in excess of the symbol rate. A custom mixedsignal (RF/digital) offset phase-locked loop circuit was developed to control the phase of the 6.4-GHz clock that samples the photon-counting detector output. The offset phase-locked loop is driven by a feedback mechanism that continuously corrects for variation in the symbol time due to motion between the transmitter and receiver as well as oscillator instability. This innovation will allow significant improvements in receiver throughput; for example, the throughput of a pulse-position modulation (PPM) with 16 slots can increase from 188 Mb/s to 1.5 Gb/s.

Quirk, Kevin J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Buffer Gas Experiments in Mercury (Hg+) Ion Clock

We describe the results of the frequency shifts measured from various buffer gases that might be used as a buffer gas to increase the loading efficiency and cooling of ions trapped in a small mercury ion clock. The small mass, volume and power requirement of space clock precludes the use of turbo pumps. Hence, a hermetically sealed vacuum system, incorporating a suitable getter material with a fixed amount of inert buffer gas may be a practical alternative to the groundbased system. The collision shifts of 40,507,347.996xx Hz clock transition for helium, neon and argon buffer gases were measured in the ambient earth magnetic field. In addition to the above non-getterable inert gases we also measured the frequency shifts due to getterable, molecular hydrogen and nitrogen gases which may be used as buffer gases when incorporated with a miniature ion pump. We also examined the frequency shift due to the low methane gas partial pressure in a fixed higher pressure neon buffer gas environment. Methane gas interacted with mercury ions in a peculiar way as to preserve the ion number but to relax the population difference in the two hyperfine clock states and thereby reducing the clock resonance signal. The same population relaxation was also observed for other molecular buffer gases (N H ,) but at much reduced rate.

mercury ion clock↗
NASA NTRS2013

Next Generation JPL Ultra-Stable Trapped Ion Atomic Clocks

Over the past decade, trapped ion atomic clock development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has focused on two directions: 1) new atomic clock technology for space flight applications that require strict adherence to size, weight, and power requirements, and 2) ultra-stable atomic clocks, usually for terrestrial applications emphasizing ultimate performance. In this paper we present a new ultra-stable trapped ion clock designed, built, and tested in the second category. The first new standard, L10, will be delivered to the Naval Research Laboratory for use in characterizing DoD space clocks.

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)↗
NASA NTRS2009

A New Trapped Ion Clock Based on Hg-201(+)

There are two stable odd isotopes of mercury with singly ionized hyperfine structure suitable for a microwave clock: Hg-199(+) and Hg-201(+). Virtually all trapped mercury ion clocks to date have used the 199 isotope. We have begun to investigate the viability of a trapped ion clock based on Hg-201(+). We have measured the unperturbed frequency of the (S-2)(sub 1/2) F = 1, m(sub F) = 0 to (S-2)(sub 1/2) F = 2, m(sub F) = 0 clock transition to be 29.9543658211(2) GHz. In this paper we describe initial measurements with Hg-201(+) and new applications to clocks and fundamental physics.

ion traps↗
DOE OSTI2025

Collinear Three-Photon Excitation of a Strongly Forbidden Optical Clock Transition

The 1 𝑆 0 − 3 𝑃 0 clock transition in strontium serves as the foundation for the world’s best atomic clocks and for gravitational wave detector concepts in clock atom interferometry. This transition is weakly allowed in the fermionic isotope 87 Sr but strongly forbidden in bosonic isotopes. Here, we demonstrate coherent excitation of the clock transition in bosonic 88 Sr using a novel collinear three-photon process in a weak magnetic field. We observe Rabi oscillations with frequencies of up to 50 kHz using W/cm 2 laser intensities and Gauss-level magnetic field amplitudes. The absence of nuclear spin in bosonic isotopes offers decreased sensitivity to magnetic fields and optical lattice light shifts, enabling atomic clocks with reduced systematic errors. The collinear propagation of the laser fields permits the interrogation of spatially separated atomic ensembles with common laser pulses, a key requirement for dark matter searches and gravitational wave detection with next-generation quantum sensors.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1974

Relativistic effects of the rotation of the earth on remote clock synchronization

A treatment is given of relativistic clock synchronization effects due to the rotation of the earth. Unlike other approaches, the point of view of an earth fixed coordinate system is used which offers insight to many problems. An attempt is made to give the reader an intuitive grasp of the subject as well as to provide formulae for his use. Specific applications to global timekeeping, navigation, VLBI, relativistic clock experiments, and satellite clock synchronization are discussed. The question of whether atomic clocks are ideal clocks is also treated.

Reinhardt, V.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Comparison of bit synchronization schemes using AM and summed clocks

This paper considers bit synchronization through the use of a separate clock signal which is either amplitude modulated onto or summed with the data signal. For continuous data transmission, such schemes are known to be inferior, in the sense of efficient use of power, to schemes which derive synchronization directly from the data signal. However, these techniques have application in burst systems such as spacecraft command systems, and in systems where receiver simplicity is more important than power conservation. For systems in which the composite data-clock signal subsequently modulates an RF carrier, it is shown that the summed clock signal performs slightly better than the AM clock signal, and that for both signal types, the optimum allocation of power between data and clock is approximately 9:1.

Geist, J. M.↗