[time-nuts] Re: What everyday uses are there for accurate clocks?

[Brian Lloyd]

On 11/28/22 20:45, Dr. David Kirkby via time-nuts wrote:

> Apart from GPS, what in the daily lives of the general public need the sort
> of accuracy one can get from time-nut grade clocks? I believe some
> financial transactions is one application, and the cellular phone system
> another. Are there others?

  * Navigation
  * Anything that requires precise frequency
  * Anything that requires time synchronization

Radio communications systems that require synchronization to keep the 
transmitter and receiver "in step" use GNSS for synchronization. Also 
systems that do radio direction finding by time difference of arrival 
(TDOA) need precise synchronization of all the receivers.

With the advent of GNSS we have high accuracy time and frequency 
standards nearly anywhere on the earth with very simple equipment. It 
has opened up whole new industries.

One interesting one is an autopilot that sports a "land this airplane" 
button. The AP looks up the nearest suitable airport from a database and 
then navigates to it and lands the airplane. This is a natural result of 
high-accuracy position information, which itself is a result of 
high-accuracy timing.

Those of us who mess about with navigation see time and space as 
opposite sides of the same coin.

-- 


*Brian Lloyd *
WB5BL - J79BL - NNA6BL
706 Flightline
Spring Branch, TX 78070
brian at heaviside-hf.com <mailto://brian@heaviside-hf.com>
+1.210.620.0011