Integrated System for Monitoring and Control of the National Time and Frequency Standard

In Poland, the national time and frequency standard (NTFS) is realized by means of three caesium atomic clocks, a system for the generation of the Polish time scale UTC(PL), and measuring systems for comparing directly and indirectly the atomic clocks and time scale. In order to ensure the best realization of NTFS, the Institute of Electrical Metrology at the University of Zielona Góra (IME UZ), in cooperation with the Central Office of Measures (GUM), has developed and built an integrated monitoring and control system. This system significantly increases the functional capabilities of autonomous measuring systems used previously at GUM and adds new features that increase the reliability and safety of the NTFS. Examples of such features are: automatic detection of invalid operating conditions (including breakdowns) of the atomic clocks and remote notification of alarms, as well as a new approach to predicting corrections for UTC(PL) using neural networks (NNs). In this paper, the presentation of hardware and software of the NTFS is limited to their general features. However, the application of NNs for predicting corrections for UTC(PL) and automation in determining the standard radio frequency deviation from its nominal value are presented in more detail.