Hi

A GPSDO is nothing more than a PLL that operates at 1Hz. If you use the same 
criteria as they do in some systems, as soon as the OCXO pulse is within 1/8 
second (sort of 10%) of the GPS, the PLL is locked / converged / doing it's 
thing / functioning as it should. It's a time domain system, so time is the 
reasonable way to look at it. 

Looking at DAC voltage *assumes* that the OCXO is perfect. Consider a situation 
when the temperature is continuously climbing. The OCXO has a TC, the DAC will 
move continuously. The same thing applies to aging / warmup /  what ever. 

Bob

On Aug 30, 2013, at 9:36 PM, Bob Stewart <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi Bob,
> 
> I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "45 degree phase error" in a 
> GPSDO.  This isn't a situation where I'm at the right frequency but at the 
> wrong phase: at least not by my understanding of phase and frequency.  Maybe 
> PLL is even the wrong term.  I dunno, but it feels right for this.  Let's say 
> I'm counting the number of OCXO pulses in each second, and in two intervals 
> 100 seconds apart I have a surplus of 1 count each.  I think that means my 
> 10MHz OCXO is off by 1ppb.  Is that right: the reciprocal of 1 error count 
> during 100 seconds times 10,000,000?  And yet my DAC still has about 100 
> steps to go before it reaches best solution.  So, OK, what is the "magic 
> number" in ppb or ppt I should consider for convergence?  Maybe I should 
> collect 24 hours of data and see what the average is for the time between DAC 
> changes and work from there.  I suppose 5 counts from best solution would be 
> fine.  By my math that would be 240ppt, or about 417
> seconds between DAC updates.  I'm out of my depth on this project.
> 
> 
> Thanks for your continued help.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> ________________________________
>> From: Bob Camp <[email protected]>
>> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement 
>> <[email protected]> 
>> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 7:31 PM
>> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] GPSDO PLL convergence question
>> 
>> 
>> Hi
>> 
>> Convergence in a PLL has no absolute definition. In some cases 45 degree 
>> phase error = all is running fine. 
>> 
>> I would simply track GPS time vs OCXO time and declare it ok when it's 
>> inside some magic number of nanoseconds. 
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>> 
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