Simultaneous Transmission of a Frequency Reference and a Time Code Over a Single Optical Fiber

G. Lutes, M. Calhaun

Abstract:	The Apollo communications station is located at the JPL/NASA Deep Space Communications Complex at Goldstone California. It supports the manned Shuttle flights and Earth-orbiting scientific and communications satellites. This station needs precise frequency and timing references to perform its various tasks. In the past the station used a local Cesium clock to keep track of time which was established with a Loran-C receiver. The station's frequency and timing system has recently been upgraded to improve accuracy and reliability. In the new configuration, a 5 MHz frequency reference and a NASA 36-Bit time code are provided to the station from a central frequency and timing facility located 10 kilometers away. Both signals are transmitted from the frequency and timing facility to the Apollo station over a single optical fiber using a slightly modified commercial fiber optic link. This paper describes this dual channel fiber optic transmission system and gives its performance.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 21th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 28 - 30, 1989 Sheraton Hotel Redondo Beach, California
Pages:	527 - 536
Cite this article:	Lutes, G., Calhaun, M., "Simultaneous Transmission of a Frequency Reference and a Time Code Over a Single Optical Fiber," Proceedings of the 21th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Redondo Beach, California, November 1989, pp. 527-536. https://doi.org/10.33012/1989.14547
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