Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
But if they are comparing time standards, it does not matter where the
clocks were manufactured, but where they are synchronized with the time
standard, and that is surely in Washington, not Palo Alto. You do not
try to synchronize a clock in Washington via phone lines or
microwave links with Palo Alto surely.
ISTR that NIST has facilities in both Colorado and Hawaii. The
Washington DC area has the U.S. Naval Observatory.
The flying clock tests were closed loop (I think there's a more accurate
term for the process) where the clock, including both its initial time
error and its frequency offset (rate difference from USNO or NIST), was
well characterized via radio and against a set of similar clocks prior
to take-off. At the end of the trip, the clock was measured again. The
time difference between departure and arrival was proportionally applied
to the measurements taken along the way. e.g., if the clock was known
to be 10ns/day fast during the trip, you adjust a measurement made on
the 3rd day by 30ns. There were lots of additional statistics applied
to improve the measurement results.
John
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