Precise Time Transfer and Ranging Experiment using ETS-VIII Satellite

Yasuhiro Takahashi, Fumimaru Nakagawa, Hiroo Kunimori, Jun Amagai, Shigeru Tsuchiya, Ryo Tabuchi, Shin'ichi Hama, Hiroyuki Noda

Abstract:	The Engineering Test Satellite-VIII (ETS-VIII) [1] is a Japanese geostationary satellite, which was launched on December 2006. Its missions include mobile communication experiments [2] using two large deployable antennas and basic satellite positioning experiments using an atomic clock in space. For the latter purpose, it was equipped with cesium-beam frequency standards by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which was developed for GPS satellites. A precise time and frequency management technology is essential to realize a satellite navigation system. The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) developed special equipment for this time transfer link. This link makes precise time and frequency transfer between the onboard atomic clock and a ground reference clock using two way time transfer method and carrier phase measurement for the first time in the world. We have measured to obtain a precision as better than 3ps between both clocks. We also estimated the range between the satellite and the ground station using the time transfer data. We are collecting data using the TCE now. This paper describes experimental principle and result of these experiments.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 21st International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2008) September 16 - 19, 2008 Savannah International Convention Center Savannah, GA
Pages:	560 - 564
Cite this article:	Takahashi, Yasuhiro, Nakagawa, Fumimaru, Kunimori, Hiroo, Amagai, Jun, Tsuchiya, Shigeru, Tabuchi, Ryo, Hama, Shin'ichi, Noda, Hiroyuki, "Precise Time Transfer and Ranging Experiment using ETS-VIII Satellite," Proceedings of the 21st International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2008), Savannah, GA, September 2008, pp. 560-564.
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