First experiment of precise time transfer using ETS-VIII satellite

The Engineering Test Satellite-VIII (ETS-VIII) is a Japanese geostationary satellite. Its missions include basic satellite positioning experiments using on-board atomic clocks. The NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) developed special equipment for this time transfer link. This link makes precise time transfer between the on-board atomic clock and a ground reference clock using two-way time transfer method and carrier phase measurement for the first time in the world. We expect to obtain an exceedingly precision as few ps between both clocks. We also estimated the range between the satellite and the ground station using the time transfer data.