GPS World, March 2017

Atomic Clocks is lost The MACs lower power consumption compared to a standard rubidium clock also contributes to a lower power and heat density overall potentially reducing the need for external cooling while increasing the electronic reliability and reducing its size Low tempco is also critical considering the environments in which these stations often operate Radar Base Stations Radars require highly precise synchronization between transmitter and receiver signals MACs are increasingly replace OCXO in these applications which also benefit from the technologys lower power Applications suitable for CSACs include these IED Jammers Low power consumption is critical in dismounted intelligent electronic devices IED jammers which must be small light and battery powered Yet they must be precise enough to tightly synchronize and allow pre defined time slots in the signals known as look windows to allow friendly communications through Dismounted Military Radios Portability and precise synchronization are critical especially given the higher bandwidth waveforms required to handle encoded video and other data rich signals Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles UAVs In addition to relying on GPS or clock holdover for navigation unmanned aircraft drones also require precise timing for their encoded data rich and video communications They also present challenges in terms of the size weight and power consumption of payloads Undersea Seismic Sensing Differences in time measurements of acoustic pulses across sensor nodes are used to map subterranean formations such as oil deposits In the absence of GPS underwater precise synchronization and very good aging performance are critical to harvesting reliable data during the duration of a survey deep under the ocean More innovation lies ahead Low powered SWaPfriendly atomic clocks are revolutionizing the world without compromising clock performance enabling many mission critical applications RAMKI RAMAKRISHNAN is director of product line management and business development Clocks Business Unit Microsemi Corporation Continued from page 12 MARCH 2017 WWW GPSWORLD COM GPS WORLD 33