Cesium atomic clock operates underwater for autonomous precise timing
Available as a commercial timing clock, the 5071B offers ease of deployment across multiple industries, said Microchip Technology. Synchronised precise timing and frequency is required in everyday applications such as mobile phones and banking to complex underwater defence missions where synchronised precise timing and frequency solutions safeguards and processes data as intended. Many of these applications rely on GNSS to provide a precise time and frequency, but GNSS is susceptible to jamming and spoofing attacks. To provide multiple industries with a long term and precise timing and frequency solution, Microchip has introduced the 5071B cesium atomic clock that can perform autonomous time keeping for months in the event of GNSS denials.
Microchip’s 5071B is the next-generation commercial cesium clock to the existing 5071A, which has been the primary contributor to international time for more than three decades. The 5071B is available in a three unit height (3U) 19-inch rackmount enclosure, providing a compact product to work in environments where it can be easily transported and secured versus a larger alternative designed specifically for laboratory environments.
The 5071B has upgraded electronic components to address possible obsolescence or non-RoHS circuitry. It provides 100 nanoseconds holdover for more than two months, maintaining system synchronisation when GNSS signals like GPS are denied. For example, this capability would enable a 5G network to remain fully operational for months without GNSS.
The cesium beam tube product has no deterministic long-term frequency drift, which provides absolute frequency accuracy of 5E-13 or 500 quadrillionths over all specified environmental conditions for the life of the product.
For military applications requiring rapid deployments for system radars, 5E-13 stability eliminates the need for the acquisition of external synchronisation sources prior to radiating. In satellite communications, this enables the user to broadcast and transmit over very small frequency bands without drifting out of band for the entire duration of the product.
When deployed, a 5071B could maintain and better synchronise the critical communication between an aircraft and control tower. Air traffic control in the United States utilises the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) to precisely locate the position of aircraft across the nation’s airspace. The stability of the 5071B enables more accurate locations and continued operation during GNSS outages.
The 5071B is now fully compliant with the RoHS directive making this product available in regions where regulatory policies are in place.
The 5071B cesium atomic clock is supported by Clockstudio software tool to control and monitor data.
Microchip’s 5071B cesium atomic clock is now available in a 3U 19-inch rackmount enclosure in two performance levels: 5071B-001 and 5071B-002.
