Traceable frequency measurements with counters

Abstract

Received signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are nowadays widely used by industry laboratories for ensuring metrological traceability for their respective range of calibration services in the field of time and frequency. Usually, a local frequency standard is steered by continuous GNSS signal reception providing at its output stable and accurate reference signals for the laboratory measurement equipment, in general for synthesizers and counters. Reception of GNSS signals is surely an adequate and practical tool for the purpose, however further steps are needed to establish traceability in a strict metrological sense. Based on already available guidelines and publications, this paper is a contribution to the discussion how metrological traceability to internationally accepted standards can be established in a calibration laboratory. We restrict the discussion to equipment in common use which may not necessarily be of the highest sophistication. In this spirit, we develop a detailed scheme for an uncertainty budget comprising all links of the traceability chain from the device under test to the SI second, the scale-unit of Coordinated Universal Time. Then we go through and apply this scheme step by step to a demonstration setup for frequency measurements with a counter with varying operational parameters. In this framework, a novel approach to distinguish between components of statistical measurement uncertainty is introduced. Furthermore, the limiting uncertainty contributions are discussed and based on a suitable set of parameters an expression for the best measurement capability is given. With this scheme at hand a user may develop an uncertainty budget adapted to his own setup, especially if acceptance from a national accreditation body is sought.