Rovera, G.
, Siccardi, M.
, Romisch, S.
and Abgrall, M.
(2019),
Time delay measurements: estimation of the error budget, Metrologia, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=926970
(Accessed October 11, 2025)
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Time delay measurements: estimation of the error budget
Published
Author(s)
G.D. Rovera, Marco Siccardi, , M. Abgrall
Abstract
The measurement of the time difference between two heterogeneous electrical sources is a necessary task in several branches of metrology. In particular the dissemination of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) around the world requires one to quantify the synchronization between two or more co-located time scales. The task is usually carried out using a time interval counter, by directly measuring the time difference between signals at its inputs. We found that special care must be taken when a total uncertainty significantly smaller than 1 ns is desired. The goal of this paper is to present a complete analysis of the total uncertainty for the measurement of time differences between co-located time scales, with considerations for improvement.Citation
Metrologia
Pub Type
Journals
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Keywords
pulsed signals, time difference, uncertainty budget, rise time, jitter, time interval counter
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Created May 16, 2019, Updated September 29, 2025