4 ms·
Who needs atomic clocks on individual planes when the US government has spent billions of dollars to place a fleet of atomic clocks in orbit?
by engi_nerd 11y ago
Who needs atomic clocks on individual planes when the US government has spent billions of dollars to place a fleet of atomic clocks in orbit?
- mbell 11y agoSomeone whom wants their planes to work when the enemy jams GPS and/or shoots the satellites down. We're talking about war here after all.
- engi_nerd 11y agoSo you freewheel once GPS goes down. You might drift a few microseconds. This is not necessarily a problem.
- NeutronBoy 11y agoIf you're traveling at high speeds and relying on this timing to adjust flight control surfaces, or trying to use radar to get position of combatants and/or the ground, a few microseconds clock skew would be a major issue.
- engi_nerd 11y agoI didn't say clock skew. I said drift. As in, you lose GPS timing signals so your own internal master clock freewheels. That has nothing to do with clock skew (different components within the jet 'seeing' different time due to delays or other issues). The jets are designed to function with degraded or no GPS functionality. But, if it's there, they will take full advantage of it.
- engi_nerd 11y agoFor those downvoting, see my comment below, where I explain why this really isn't a problem.