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### How do you know the GPS receivers in Gran Sasso and CERN are not introducing any systematic error?
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Metrology labs around the world use GPS time transfer techniques to
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exchange observations of the delays of their local clocks with respect
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to GPS clocks. These observations are then merged by the Bureau
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International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in Paris to produce
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Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In addition to these techniques,
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metrology labs also exchange observations using other independent
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means
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such as Two-Way Satellite Time Transfer (TWSTT). In this setup, a
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certain bandwidth is rented from a geostationary satellite operator to
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establish a two-way link, which is completely independent of GPS.
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Travelling atomic clocks (after accounting for relativity and other
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effects) are a third way which is used to ascertain that GPS time
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transfer is unbiased. The satellite receivers in Gran Sasso and CERN
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are
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the same brand and model. So are the antennae and the antenna cables.
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They have been characterized by two independent metrology labs (METAS
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and PTB) using different methods, which agreed to within 2 ns even if
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conducted with a 2-year separation in time.
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### Have you taken the antenna cable delay into account?
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Calibrations conducted by METAS and PTB both included the final cables
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and antennae. This is a very important concept: inclusive calibration.
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It is also used to calibrate other things like fiber links. You have
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to
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try to include as much as possible of your final setup in the
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calibration procedure. So at METAS, for example, both GPS receivers
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were
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set up with their final cables and antennae, and their PPS outputs
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were
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measured against the METAS reference PPS. This provided, in addition
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to
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the relative calibration of interest, an absolute calibration with
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respect to
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UTC.
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### Does this system suffer from any kind of Sagnac effect, related to the rotation of the Earth?
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### What is the impact of the Ionosphere on the accuracy of the time transfer?
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### Why the GPS receivers are installed on the surface?
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GPS antenna, cable and receiver are normally characterized as a single
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entity. It is very convenient to keep an antenna cable length of ~40m,
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in such a way that the ensemble can be dismounted and sent to
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calibration by another lab (calibration by METAS) or another lab can
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bring a traveling GPS to our installation (PTB calibration).
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It is very convenient to keep an antenna cable length of ~40m, in such a
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way that the ensemble can be dismounted and sent to calibration by
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another lab (PolarRX2e sent to METAS) or another lab can bring a
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traveling GPS to our installations (PTB calibration at CERN and LNGS).
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## Fiber length calibration
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