Estimation of the synchronization error for spaced-apart ground points of satellite communication

Abstract

A significant number of patents and publications in the open press show the intensity of the ongoing research to create new methods of synchronization and specialized ground-based equipment for frequency-time synchronization. The article considers the implementation of an autonomous synchronization system between ground-based satellite communication points, which is used in conditions of unfavorable reception or absence of signals from global navigation satellite systems. The paper presents studies on the assessment of the error of time synchronization of geographically separated ground points of satellite communications. The basics of constructing the receiving equipment of a radio engineering system are considered and the mutual correlation of the reference signal of the receiving equipment and the received input synchronization signal is calculated. The results of field tests of mutual synchronization equipment are presented, where the potential synchronization accuracy of equipment at ground objects with previously unknown coordinates was determined, while the synchronization equipment provided measurement of the signal propagation time from one ground object to another with the formation of universal time scales on points. The method of mutual synchronization of linked points is carried out by the duplex method at a frequency of 1065 MHz (request) and 625 MHz (response) by phase-code-manipulated signals with a base equal to 1023 and a duration of 0,1 ms.

Keywords

• ground station
• time scale
• synchronization system
• highly stable reference frequency
• time scale error