Clock management data analysis for satellite communications

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has installed GPS-based timing systems in several defense satellite communication system (DSCS-III) satellite communication facilities to support the single channel transponder (SCT) program. The goal of these systems was to manage the satellite crystal oscillators to 25 microsecond accuracy and ground cesium clocks to 5 microsecond accuracy. A windows-compatible computer program was written to facilitate the clock management of these oscillators. This paper describes these systems, as well as give detailed data analysis of the time management for the satellite oscillators.