Program Summary
Over the past two decades, precision timing in the optical domain has advanced rapidly in the laboratory and has recently surpassed – in stability and precision – the ubiquitous microwave timing techniques that make up the foundations of global precision timing in commercial and Department of Defense (DoD) domains. Optical precision timing techniques provide a means for orders of magnitude higher precision and accuracy, but, just as importantly, they enable more resilient timing capabilities with less reliance on GPS by virtue of longer holdover times and usage of optical signals that are more difficult to jam or spoof.
The “Robust Optical Clock Network” (ROCkN) program seeks to develop optical precision timing technologies to significantly increase the precision and holdover of DoD timing capability in low-size, weight, and power (SWaP) devices that can operate outside the lab.
ROCkN has two Technical Areas (TA) based on different application domains. TA1 aims to develop small portable clocks that provide the time precision necessary for distributed coherent sensing and other applications in a robust package suitable for airborne or spaceborne platforms. TA2 aims to develop transportable clocks with month-long holdover of GPS-quality precise time and autonomous operation, with a view toward providing a local regional time scale on land or seaborne platforms. The common technical challenge is to provide the timing precision and holdover required while constrained by SWaP and environmental sensitivity requirements.
If successful, ROCkN will transition recent advances in laboratory optical timing technologies out of the lab and toward devices operational in the field to enable order of magnitude improvements in DoD timing capabilities.