Kalman Filter for Atomic Clocks and Timescales

摘要

In a test of whether a Kalman filter could provide viable frequencies for atomic clocks, as well phases for a mean timescale, both simulated and actual hydrogen maser frequency data were processed with a two- state Kalman filter involving the parameters frequency and frequency drift and incorporating noise measurements based on Hadamard variances. Separate clock solutions were then combined and integrated to generate a mean timescale for the ensemble. Results for sampling times of up to at least several days indicate that such a timescale is even more stable than the one being used to steer the USNO Master Clock.