Timing Potentials of Loran-C

Abstract

The Loran-C navigation system is capable of synchronizing and setting clocks to a relative accuracy of better than 1 μsec throughout the system's service area. A Loran-C receiver functions as a slaved oscillator and a trigger generator. The generated triggers bear a time relationship to the triggers at the master transmitter, which is known to within a microsecond. Clocks operating from these sources are compared with clocks operating from independent free-running oscillators. A fundamental relationship between time and position is considered. Loran-C as a navigation and timing system can provide both position and time simultaneously. The East Coast Loran-C chain will be time synchronized. The national frequency standards and uniform time source located at Boulder will be used to monitor these signals. Time synchronization and time distribution have been demonstrated on the Atlantic Missile Range. Inter-range time synchronization and precise time for large areas of the world could be provided in the future. Appendix I describes briefly the results of ground wave measurements made on the Loran-C (Cytac) system. Appendix II describes the results of sky wave measurements made with the system.