Ground-Based GPS for Validation of Climate Models: The Impact of Satellite Antenna Phase Center Variations

The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is an important indicator for climate change. Using the Global Positioning System (GPS), it is possible to estimate the integrated water vapor (IWV) above the ground-based GPS receiver. In order to optimally determine the IWV, a correct model of the received signal phase is essential. We have studied the effect of the satellite antenna phase center variations (PCVs) on the IWV estimates by simulating the effect and by studying the estimates of the IWV based on the observed GPS signals. During a period of five years, from 2003 to 2008, a new satellite type was introduced, and it steadily grew in numbers. The antenna PCVs for these satellites deviate from the earlier satellite types and contribute to excess IWV estimates. We find that ignoring satellite antenna phase variations for this time period can lead to an additional IWV trend of about 0.15 kg/m2/year for regular GPS processing

Assessment of GPS derived speed for verification of speed measuring devices

Speed information from GPS is increasingly used and provides an alternative to conventional methods such as wheel speed sensors. We investigate the possibility to use GPS derived speed as a reference when verifying laser and radar-based speed measuring devices used in traffic enforcement. We have set up a realistic test scenario where a GPS equipped vehicle was driven at three different speeds (40, 90 and 130 km/h) through a pre-defined measurement zone. An independent and traceable reference speed was calculated by accurately measuring the length of the measurement zone (approximately 15 metres), and the time it took to pass through it. The reference speed was compared to the average GPS speed for each passage. This comparisons show that the standard uncertainty of such GPS speed measurements is less than 0.05 km/h. Hence, GPS derived speed meets the accuracy requirements for verification of laser and radar based speed measuring devices

TIME TRANSFER USING AN ASYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER NETWORK: RESULTS FROM A 500 KM BASELINE EXPERIMENT

SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and STUPI have performed a time transferexperiment over a 500km long baseline between Bor\ue5s and Stockholm. The time transfertechnique passively utilizes the data bit stream generated in an optical fiber computer networkbased on the packet over SONET/SDH technique. A small fraction of the optical signal ismonitored both at the transmitter and at the receiver. When an occurrence of a unique bitsequence of the SDH frames is detected, an electrical pulse is generated and compared with aresolution of 100 ps to a local clock. With data from all four positions of an optical bidirectionallink, two-way time-transfer can be achieved and any symmetrical variations in delay canpotentially be cancelled. The results presented here have been obtained over OptoSUNET, thenew Swedish University Network. In the experiment, 10 Gbit/s traffic from SP over OptoSUNETis extended in Stockholm to STUPI, a clock laboratory which is the second node in this setup.This reconnection enables that a communication channel is established between two nodes,with no intermediate jump. The time-transfer experiment includes more than 500 km of fibertransmission, of which several km is via air-lines. By comparing the results from a GPS carrierphaselink, a precision better than \ub1 1 ns is achieved over several months of measurementsbetween two Hydrogen-masers

Measurements and Error Sources in Time Transfer Using Asynchronous Fiber Network

We have performed time transfer experiments based on passive listening in fiber optical networks using Packet over synchronous optical networking (SONET)/synchronous digital hierarchy(SDH). The experiments have been performed with different complexity and over different distances. For assessment of the results, we have used a GPS link based on carrier-phase observations. On a 560-km link, precision that is relative to the GPS link of < 1 ns has been obtained over several months. In this paper, we describe and quantify the different error sources influencing the fiber time transfer measurements. We show that the temperature dependence of the optical fiber is the major contribution to the error budget, and, thus, reducing this effect should be the best way of improving the results

Time transfer using an asynchronous computer network: Results from three weeks of measurements

We have performed a time transfer experimentbetween two atomic clocks, over a distance of approximately 75km using an 10 Gbit/s asynchronous fiber-optic computernetwork. The time transfer was accomplished through passivelistening on existing data traffic and a pilot sequence in the SDHbit stream. In order to assess the fiber-link clock comparison, wesimultaneously compared the clocks using a GPS carrier phaselink. The standard deviation of the difference between the twotime transfer links over the three-week time period was 243 ps