Near real-time comparison of UTC(k)'s through a Precise Point Positioning approach

Abstract

The time-transfer technique based on Precise Point Positioning (PPP) allows the comparison of atomic clocks with precisions at the level of hundred picoseconds. This paper presents the results obtained in near real-time using satellite orbit and clock information from IGS real-time streams and from the NRCan Ultra Rapid products (EMU). These results can be considered quite interesting for the National Metrology Institutes, providing a new tool for monitoring their UTC(k)'s. Two different PPP software tools have been used in this study, namely “Atomium” developed and operated at ORB and the NRCan-PPP soon to be operated at INRIM and LNE-SYRTE-OP in near real-time mode. This paper presents a quantification of the degree of equivalence of the results obtained from the analysis conducted using each software as well as the operational web page available at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, providing PPP solutions for the comparison of UTC(k)'s in near real-time.