Tom and Antonio,
Tom Van Baak skrev:
Hi Antonio,
A couple of thoughts...
First, remember the quartz crystals on the GPS SV are not
free-running; they are just the LO of Rb or Cs atomic clocks.
In the Block II series, the crystal oscillator responsible for
transmitter circuit is a separate oscillator from any of the atomic
references and their respective fly-wheel oscillator. That is how SA
noise is introduced, into the loop of the transmitter oscillator.
So you can partly answer the question yourself with a simple
experiment at home. Have you ever seen frequency jumps in
any of your cheap Rb or Cs clocks at home? Even one? If so
how big was the jump?
It takes a good reference to find it. The quality of oscillators have
reduced the rate of jumps.
Second, can you better define what you mean by "frequency
jump"? This is a familiar but vague term. In some respects one
can say that every crystal, that every oscillator has frequency
jumps.
I think looking at this reference could aid, as it covers many of the
other terms, so "frequency jump" becomes distinct from that of 1/f
variants of noise sources.
http://www.ieee-uffc.org/frequency_control/teaching/pdf/fcdevices.pdf
In general, the UFFC educational material at:
http://www.ieee-uffc.org/frequency_control/teaching.asp
can be a good start.
For aging, have a look at this survey:
http://www.ieee-uffc.org/frequency_control/teaching.asp?name=aging
However, the FCS 1991 PDF is better formated variant, but password
protected on the UFFC site.
However, the more I read about aging effects, the less clear connection
I see between material effects and frequency jumps.
The frequency averaged over one tau is always different than
than the frequency over the next tau, and the next, etc. If not,
the ADEV would be zero. But as you know ADEV is never
zero. The purpose of clock statistics is to show how close to
zero it is. So it would be good for you to define your threshold
of "jump" before we talk too much more about detecting them.
A jump should be considered that or those frequency samples which
significantly deviates from what the various noise sources would allow
for. Random walk noise produces frequency jump like features, but
through propper ADEV and MDEV analysis the levels of various 1/f noises
can be established and random walk deviations can be limited. So, those
level shifts which is significantly higher than expected from these
noise sources is "true" frequency jumps.
However, there are several systematic effects which can produce a
frequency jump observation, which includes environmental effects. Let's
assume that environmental effects is maintained within limits for a
crystal....
Then, crystal physics and mecanics, alongside with that of the
electronics comes into play. However, it is from these sources we see
much of the noise we already said we elimintated.
Cheers,
Magnus
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