Ideas for Future GPS Timing Improvements

Steven T. Hutsell

Abstract:	Having recently met stringent criteria for Full Operational Capability (FOC) certification, GPS now has higher customer expectations than ever before. In order to maintain customer satisfaction, and to meet the even higher customer demands of the future, the GPS Master Control Station (MCS) must play a critical role in the process of carefully refining the performance and integrity of the GPS constellation, particularly in the area of timing. This paper will present an operational perspective on several ideas for improving timing in GPS. These ideas include the desire for improved MCS-USNO data connectivity, an improved GPS-UTC prediction algorithm, a more robust Kalman Filter, and more features in the GPS reference time algorithm (the GPS Composite Clock), including frequency step resolution, a more explicit use of the basic time scale equation, and dynamic clock weighting. Current MCS software meets the exceptional challenge of managing an extremely complex constellation of 24 navigation satellites. The GPS community will never want to risk losing the performance and integrity that we currently have. The community will, however, - always seek to improve upon this performance and integrity.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 27th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 29 - 1, 1995 The Doubletree Hotel at Horton Plaza San Diego, California
Pages:	63 - 74
Cite this article:	Hutsell, Steven T., "Ideas for Future GPS Timing Improvements," Proceedings of the 27th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, San Diego, California, November 1995, pp. 63-74.
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