[time-nuts] Short term 10MHz source

[Tom Van Baak]

> Hi All sorry for a new be question but
> what is a TICC
> regards Paul B  UK

Hi Paul,

That is an acronym we often use here on time-nuts; one that a simple google search doesn't answer.

Ok, there's "TIC" and there's "TICC".

1)
A TIC (Time Interval Counter) is a common 2-input electronic bench instrument that precisely measures time interval; in other words, the elapsed time between a pulse on input A ("start") to a pulse on input B ("stop"). It's like a stopwatch.

This is very useful for making comparisons between two oscillators or clocks. Often a frequency counter is combined with a period counter + time interval counter + other features and the whole package is called a "universal counter".

There are dozens of amateur and commercial TIC products. The key feature is often the resolution; that is, how fine a difference between A and B can be measured. For $1 you can time to 1 us or 100 ns. For $10 you can measure down to 10 ns or even 1 ns. Note that complexity and price goes up significantly as the resolution improves to 100 ps or 10 ps or even 1 ps levels.

A classic example of a TIC is the hp 53131A/53132A universal counter.

2)
The TICC is the cute name for a DIY project by fellow time-nut John Ackerman, N8UR. It cleverly combines a pair of special-purpose TI chips to do sub-nanosecond timing along with an Arduino. The result is an open source time interval counter with specs better than HP's 53132A at a fraction of the cost.

In addition, the TICC is more than just a plain start/stop TIC; it is actually an independent dual-channel TSC (time stamping counter). This design permits a wider variety of functions than a traditional TIC. The resolution of the TICC is under 100 ps.

3)
Some useful TICC links:

"Kits: TICC Timestamping/Time Interval Counter"
https://www.tapr.org/kits_ticc.html

"TAPR TICC User Manual"
https://github.com/TAPR/TICC/raw/master/docs/TAPR%20TICC%20User%20Manual.pdf

"The TICC Timestamping/Time Interval Counter"
https://www.febo.com/pages/TICC/

"A High-Resolution Time Interval Counter Using the TAPR TADD-2 and TICC Modules "
http://www.stable32.com/A%20High-Resolution%20Time%20Interval%20Counter%20Using%20the%20TAPR%20TADD-2%20and%20TICC%20Modules.pdf

"tutorials and publications, frequency stability measurements"
http://www.wriley.com/Freq%20Stab%20Meas%20Links.htm

"Exploring TICC resolution"
http://leapsecond.com/pages/ticc/

4)
Because the name "TICC" is rather ambiguous I and others prefer to type "TAPR/TICC" instead. Not only does this give TAPR some visibility, but it also makes google searches far better. If you ask google, what is TICC, you don't get a good answer at all. But if you ask google, what is TAPR/TICC, it brings you directly to the description/order page.

/tvb