Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT) Calibration Constancy from Closure Sums

Demetrios Matsakis, Lee Breakiron, Andreas Bauch, Dirk Piester, and Zhiheng Jiang

Abstract:	Two-way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT) is considered to be the most accurate means of long-distance time transfer, on the basis of its reported 1 ns repeat calibration consistency. This paper uses the closure sum technique to show that variations of the link-based component of the transfer data, in the absence of configuration changes, are largely subnanosecond in the European links. Two explanations for small, but non-zero, biases observed in the closure sums of uncalibrated data are presented.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 40th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting December 1 - 4, 2008 Hyatt Regency Reston Town Center Reston, Virginia
Pages:	587 - 604
Cite this article:	Matsakis, Demetrios, Breakiron, Lee, Bauch, Andreas, Piester, Dirk, Jiang, Zhiheng, "Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT) Calibration Constancy from Closure Sums," Proceedings of the 40th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Reston, Virginia, December 2008, pp. 587-604.
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