Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline
Since the observation precision of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) carrier phase is on the order of millimeters, if the phase ambiguity is correctly solved, while calibrating the receiver inter-frequency bias, time synchronization on the order of tens of picoseconds is expected. In thi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/17/4882 |
| _version_ | 1827707333428379648 |
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| author | Yinghao Zhao Letao Zhou Wei Feng Shaoguang Xu |
| author_facet | Yinghao Zhao Letao Zhou Wei Feng Shaoguang Xu |
| author_sort | Yinghao Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the observation precision of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) carrier phase is on the order of millimeters, if the phase ambiguity is correctly solved, while calibrating the receiver inter-frequency bias, time synchronization on the order of tens of picoseconds is expected. In this contribution, a method that considers the prior constraints of the between-receiver inter-frequency bias (IFB) and its random variation characteristics is proposed for the estimation of the between-receiver clock difference, based on the uncombined GNSS carrier phase and pseudorange observations of the zero and short baselines. The proposed method can rapidly achieve the single-difference ambiguity resolution of the zero and short baselines, and then obtain the high-precision relative clock offset, by using only the carrier phase observations, along with the between-receiver IFBs being simultaneously determined. Our numerical tests, carried out using GNSS observations sampled every 30 s by a dedicatedly selected set of zero and short baselines, show that the method can fix the between-receiver single-difference ambiguity successfully within an average of fewer than 2 epochs (interval 30 s). Then, a clock difference between two receivers with millimeter precision is obtained, achieving time synchronization on tens of picoseconds level, and deriving a frequency stability of 5 × 10<sup>−14</sup> for averaging times of 30,000 s. Furthermore, the proposed approach is compared with the precise point positioning (PPP) time transfer method. The results show that, for different types of receivers, the agreement between the two methods is between −6.7 ns and 0.2 ns. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:44:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c7b9dd96e02042d294d2083d3dc67398 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:44:15Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-c7b9dd96e02042d294d2083d3dc673982023-11-20T11:45:17ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202020-08-012017488210.3390/s20174882Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short BaselineYinghao Zhao0Letao Zhou1Wei Feng2Shaoguang Xu3Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, ChinaFaculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, ChinaSince the observation precision of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) carrier phase is on the order of millimeters, if the phase ambiguity is correctly solved, while calibrating the receiver inter-frequency bias, time synchronization on the order of tens of picoseconds is expected. In this contribution, a method that considers the prior constraints of the between-receiver inter-frequency bias (IFB) and its random variation characteristics is proposed for the estimation of the between-receiver clock difference, based on the uncombined GNSS carrier phase and pseudorange observations of the zero and short baselines. The proposed method can rapidly achieve the single-difference ambiguity resolution of the zero and short baselines, and then obtain the high-precision relative clock offset, by using only the carrier phase observations, along with the between-receiver IFBs being simultaneously determined. Our numerical tests, carried out using GNSS observations sampled every 30 s by a dedicatedly selected set of zero and short baselines, show that the method can fix the between-receiver single-difference ambiguity successfully within an average of fewer than 2 epochs (interval 30 s). Then, a clock difference between two receivers with millimeter precision is obtained, achieving time synchronization on tens of picoseconds level, and deriving a frequency stability of 5 × 10<sup>−14</sup> for averaging times of 30,000 s. Furthermore, the proposed approach is compared with the precise point positioning (PPP) time transfer method. The results show that, for different types of receivers, the agreement between the two methods is between −6.7 ns and 0.2 ns.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/17/4882GNSS carrier phasetime synchronizationtens of picoseconds levelbetween-receiver IFBsingle-difference ambiguity resolutionzero/short baseline |
| spellingShingle | Yinghao Zhao Letao Zhou Wei Feng Shaoguang Xu Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline Sensors GNSS carrier phase time synchronization tens of picoseconds level between-receiver IFB single-difference ambiguity resolution zero/short baseline |
| title | Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline |
| title_full | Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline |
| title_fullStr | Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline |
| title_short | Fast Time Synchronization on Tens of Picoseconds Level Using Uncombined GNSS Carrier Phase of Zero/Short Baseline |
| title_sort | fast time synchronization on tens of picoseconds level using uncombined gnss carrier phase of zero short baseline |
| topic | GNSS carrier phase time synchronization tens of picoseconds level between-receiver IFB single-difference ambiguity resolution zero/short baseline |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/17/4882 |
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