Just In Time: Improving International Time Coordination with GPS and the Internet

International time coordination is improving throughout the Americas, thanks to a low-cost system relying on GPS satellites and the Internet, which enables much faster time comparisons and gives small countries the opportunity to evaluate easily their measurements in relation to others and to world standards, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The time and frequency network of the Sistema Interamericano de Metrologia (SIM), or Inter-American Metrology System, began operation in 2005. The system includes national metrology institutes in member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS). The SIM network currently compares time and frequency measurements made in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Panama and the United States. Costa Rica and Columbia are expected to join the network soon, says the NIST statement, and additional OAS members have expressed interest.

As the U.S. civilian timekeeper, the NIST participates in the SIM network and also calibrates other members’ equipment, which consists of a computer-based measurement system and a GPS receiver provided by OAS. Institutes simultaneously compare their time scales to clocks on the same GPS satellites, and then automatically compare their results over the Internet. Time differences can be viewed on the Web by all laboratories in the network, with updates every 10 minutes.

“Canada, Mexico and the United States now have better time coordination than ever before,” said Mike Lombardi, an NIST scientist who is a member of the SIM working group on time and frequency. The three countries’ times remained within 50 nanoseconds of each other for an eight-month period in 2006, according to a recent status report, claim NIST officials. Measurement precision is good enough to calibrate the best regional standards.

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