Validation of Kepler Time and Frequency Transfer on a Terrestrial Range of 10.45km

Janis Surof, Juraj Poliak, Raphael Wolf, Luca Macri, Ramon Mata Calvo, Ludwig Blümel, Pablo Dominguez, Gabriele Giorgi, Laura Agazzi, Johann Furthner, Christoph Günther

Abstract:	A bi-directional optical link is established over 10.45 km to perform Two-Way Frequency and Time Transfer (TWFT, TWTT) to validate the system design for Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) to ground links through the atmospheric channel. Binary phase shift keying with a homodyne reception scheme is used to recover the carrier frequency. The time transfer is enabled by optical correlation and dynamic tracking of a 25.6 Gcps transmission spread-sequence with a locally generated reference sequence. An additional data transmission of 50 Mbps is performed on the same channel. Optical references and frequency combs on both sides enable the frequency measurements. Ultra-stable oscillators generate Radio Frequency (RF) references for the time transfer. The performance of the system is evaluated under different atmospheric conditions. Frequency transfer with a stability of 5 · 10^?15 at 1 s gate time. Simultaneous two-way time transfer with a stability of 1 · 10^?13 at 1 s gate time prove the feasibility of the system even through the atmospheric channel.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 35th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2022) September 19 - 23, 2022 Hyatt Regency Denver Denver, Colorado
Pages:	3662 - 3670
Cite this article:	Surof, Janis, Poliak, Juraj, Wolf, Raphael, Macri, Luca, Calvo, Ramon Mata, Blümel, Ludwig, Dominguez, Pablo, Giorgi, Gabriele, Agazzi, Laura, Furthner, Johann, Günther, Christoph, "Validation of Kepler Time and Frequency Transfer on a Terrestrial Range of 10.45km," Proceedings of the 35th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2022), Denver, Colorado, September 2022, pp. 3662-3670. https://doi.org/10.33012/2022.18480
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In