Global high technology sectors such as telecommunications, aerospace, navigation, defence and security all rely on accurate time and frequency references. Frequency standards with stability and accuracy at the level required for the industrial applications already exist in well-controlled laboratory environments. European National Metrology Institutes (NMI) have spent many years developing both microwave and optical frequency references, with the best of these today being capable of fractional frequency reproducibilities better than 10
-15, significantly beyond what is required for most industrial applications. The problem is that these frequency standards are generally bulky, have high electrical power consumption and can only be operated by highly trained personnel. They are also not designed for extended operation in demanding industrial environments where temperature
fluctuations and vibration levels are likely to be at least an order of magnitude worse than in a typical laboratory environment.
This joint reaserch project carried out in the frmework of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) goes beyond the current state-of-the-art by applying emerging alternative technologies to transform NMI-based frequency standards technology into compact, robust and turn-key standards that are well-suited for operation in an industrial environment. Space qualification of these systems is not explicitly targeted, nevertheless the technology developments undertaken will represent an important step in this direction.
This project is part of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP,
http://www.euramet.org/index.php?id=emrp); it is partly funded by the European Union on the basis of Decision No 912/2009/EC.
