Orolia, the world leader in Resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) solutions and space-based atomic clocks, recently introduced a breakthrough low SWaP-C Miniaturized Rubidium Oscillator, the mRO-50™, to meet the latest commercial, military and aerospace requirements where time stability and power consumption are critical.
Based on the proven rubidium clock heritage at Orolia, the mRO-50’s design has been adapted for low power (0.36 W @ 3.3V) and size. It consists of a voltage-controlled crystal oscillator (VCTCXO) which is locked to a highly stable atomic transition in the ground state of the 85Rb isotope.
It provides a one-day holdover below 1µs and a retrace below 1 x 10-10 in a form factor that takes up only 51 cc of volume (about one-third of the volume compared to standard rubidium clocks) and consumes only 0.36W of power, or about ten times less than existing solutions with similar capabilities.
This Rubidium Oscillator can operate over a temperature from -10°C to 60°C and is also ideal for UAVs and underwater applications.
Fast, accurate GNSS lock for positioning data Military GNSS-based systems use very long pseudo random codes for signal recognition.
These codes prevent civilian GNSS devices from detecting military codes and their positioning data. The disadvantage of lengthy codes is the amount of time necessary for military systems to decrypt them (up to two minutes). With the mRO-50 technology, detection time can be reduced to seconds. Accurate timing and synchronization for radio transmission in most modern radios operate by transmitting data in small packets. If many users in a group such as an infantry platoon are communicating, differing times are allocated to the radios to allow transmission on the same frequency (TDMA). The data packets have guard bands that protect individual packets from overlapping. This timing feature ensures communications, even if all the radios are not synchronized. With the new mRO-50 technology, guard bands will be reduced and thus allow at least twice the level of information to be transmitted
Precise time stamping, inertial navigation, and waveform synchronization for UAVs sensor payloads typically use a clock synchronized to GNSS.
When that signal is lost, the mRO-50 provides a “holdover” function to maintain precision for extended periods of GNSS denial. UAVs also rely on Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) in the absence of GNSS. The high stability of the atomic clock with mRO-50 as the INS time base reduces the time integration error drift during extended GNSS outages. Accurate clocks are also needed in UAV communications: high-density encrypted waveforms have been employed to transmit and receive UAVs control data as their sensor payloads have advanced from still photos to video, and to video integrated with infrared. The new mRO-50 technology enables the constant synchronization and stabilization of those waveforms.
Spectratime mRO-50 Key Features:
- High accuracy and stability atomic frequency clock
- Low SWaP-C (Size, Weight, Power and Cost)
- Enhanced MAC (Miniature Atomic Clock) technology
- Standard quartz oscillator pinouts
- MAC / SA.5x compatible pinouts
- RoHS compliant
- APPLICATIONS: Telecom, Navigation, Broadcast, Defense, Battery Powered Instruments
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