Comparison of VLBI and GNSS common view for time transfer

Abstract

With the rapid development of optical clock, the stability and system uncertainty of optical clocks has reached a 1.0e–18 level. Optical clocks will likely constitute the next generation of time-frequency standards for redefining the SI second. Because time and frequency transfer services that rely on satellite systems are not always reliable and currently available technologies are insufficient for comparing the next generation of frequency standards, high-precision time and transfer techniques are strongly desired. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is one of the space geodetic techniques that measure the arrival time delays between multiple stations utilizing radio signals from distant celestial radio sources. Not only can VLBI obtain the angle position measurement of the radio source with sub-millisecond accuracy and the station coordinate measurement with millimeter accuracy, but also, it can provide high-precision information regarding inter-station atomic clock differences. Therefore, it is theoretically feasible to use the VLBI technology to do the remote time transfer. Because of this characteristic of VLBI technology, VLBI has significant application potential in the field of remote time transfer. To confirm the suitability of VLBI to time-frequency transfer for future practical applications, the results of VLBI and GPS common view time transfer were compared using a Kunming-Urumqi baseline. The performance characteristics of time transfer based on VLBI are then analyzed. Experimental results show that VLBI technology can accurately measure the variation of clock differences between stations as same as the GPS common view time comparison technology. It briefly describes the challenges of future VLBI technology for practical applications of time transfer.