Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer Using 1 MChip/S Codes

Victor Zhang, Thomas E. Parker, Joseph Achkar, Andreas Bauch, Luca Lorini, Demetrios Matsakis, Dirk Piester, and Daniele G. Rovera

Abstract:	The Ku-band transatlantic and Europe-to-Europe two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) operations used 2.5 MChip/s pseudo-random codes with 3.5 MHz bandwidth until the end of July 2009. The cost of TWSTFT operation is associated with the bandwidth used on a geostationary satellite. The transatlantic and Europe-to-Europe TWSTFT operations faced a significant increase in cost for using 3.5 MHz bandwidth on a new satellite. The use of 1 MChip/s pseudo-random codes with 2.5 MHz bandwidth was one of the alternatives for continuing the TWSTFT operations without the increase in cost. Two timinglaboratories in the US and eight timing laboratories in Europe participated in an experiment from February to July of 2009 to study the 1 MChip/s TWSTFT performance. Based on the study results, the transatlantic and Europe-to-Europe TWSTFT operations switched to a new satellite using 1 MChip/s codes with 2.5 MHz bandwidth since 1 August 2009. In this paper, we report the performance of 1 MChip/s TWSTFT for the transatlantic and Europe-to-Europe links.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 41st Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 16 - 19, 2009 Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico
Pages:	371 - 382
Cite this article:	Zhang, Victor, Parker, Thomas E., Achkar, Joseph, Bauch, Andreas, Lorini, Luca, Matsakis, Demetrios, Piester, Dirk, Rovera, Daniele G., "Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer Using 1 MChip/S Codes," Proceedings of the 41st Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, November 2009, pp. 371-382.
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