Symmetricom 1000 User Manual

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Chapter 1 Overview of the TimeProvider
BesTime
44
 TimeProvider User’s Guide
097-58001-02 Revision G – April 2008
Two weighting algorithms - tracking and holdover - determine which of the inputs are 
used as the ensembled reference. The tracking algorithm is used during normal 
operation. If the GPS becomes disqualified, BesTime uses the holdover weighting 
algorithm to determine what the GPS input would have been had it not been lost. 
You can use the RTRV-BESTIME-STATS command to view the current weighting for 
each input. 
The BesTime control loops are designed so that the short-term (under 10 minutes) 
stability is controlled by the LO, medium-term (10 minutes to several hours) stability 
is controlled by the ensembled reference, and long-term stability and accuracy is 
determined by the GPS control input. 
The control loops can use either measurement data or prediction data. The inputs 
are measured for phase, frequency, and drift transients. When the input to either loop 
is determined to be valid, then the measured data is used to generate the correction 
signal to the local oscillator. If BesTime detects a transient on the input, it switches to 
the prediction data before the transient can start to affect the correction signal.
Normal Tracking
During normal GPS tracking, the GPS input provides the source of long-term 
stability for all inputs to the ensembling algorithm. The ensembling improves the 
medium-term stability of the output signals.
GPS Holdover
If GPS signals are lost, then all inputs to the ensembling algorithm have lost their 
source of long-term traceability. BesTime substitutes the inputs with calibration 
predictions with respect to GPS. Each input is weighted according to the estimated 
prediction error over 24 hours.