Characterization of frequency stability: frequency-domain estimation of stability measures

The author focuses on the frequency domain approach, which provides a complete characterization of frequency. The standard characterization of frequency stability in the frequency domain is the spectral density function (SDF). The author describes SDFs that model sampled frequency stability data and that are related to the SDFs of the standard characterization. On the basis of standard techniques in spectral analysis, he outlines a systematic way of estimating SDFs typical of frequency stability data. The recommended procedure is to check for broadband bias in the periodogram using a sequence of data tapers and, if bias is in evidence, to design an autoregressive prewhitening filter to prewhiten the data. The author considers the relationship between the Allan variance and the SDF and outlines two nonparametric ways of translating stability measures between the two domains-one based upon pilot analysis and the other upon J. Rutman´s bandpass variance (1978)