NIST Unveils Chip-scale Atomic Clock

grumling writes "The heart of a minuscule atomic clock, believed to be 100 times smaller than any other atomic clock has been demonstrated by scientists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), opening the door to atomically precise timekeeping in portable, battery-powered devices for secure wireless communications, more precise navigation and other applications. "

Comments

timing is extremely important

[Anonymous Coward]

especially when you're trying to get first psot

Re:timing is extremely important

[quantaman]

Spelling however, is entirely optional.

Useful

[AKAImBatman]

opening the door to atomically precise timekeeping in portable, battery-powered devices for secure wireless communications, more precise navigation and...

Video games!

Yeah...

[dmayle]

Yeah, so I can keep time 5 minutes early more precisely than ever before...

OK, so when do I get one in my PC...

[Atrax]

... so my clock doesn't drift by like five minutes a day, necessitating a daily ping to the USNO time servers? anyone?

Re:OK, so when do I get one in my PC...

[Gerald]

So why don't you just use NTPd or OpenNTPd? And why aren't you using pool.ntp.org instead of picking on the poor, overloaded NIST servers?

Re:OK, so when do I get one in my PC...

[Artifakt]

There are about a jillion clock programs for windows that call the NIST clocks on a regular schedule of your choice and adjust the PC. Most of them are freeware. Some of them work with a clock display on desktop, some with the existing clock in the systray. I recomend Beatnik, at http://www.somedec.com/ free, skinnable, and stable, and no I don't have any connection to the author except using it and some of his other freeware. However, the OP apparently doesn't want to do something like that. I confess, I'm not sure why. If he has a box whose clock drifts by 5 min a day and that once daily ping is eating up substantial time on his connection, the answer is to get a new box or a faster connection. If my clock naturally drifted by 5 minutes a day, I'd want to correct about every 4 hours or so, or maybe I'd just immediatly try replacing the Mobo battery in case that was a sign it was going stale. Maybe I'm missing something there, and he just doesn't want to go through the process manually, but it sounds like he's more wanting to not do it at all.

At last...

[Aardpig]

...Netgear can start manufacturing routers that don't totally fuck the NTP server at University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Great for GPS

[DustMagnet]

With a atomic clock in a GPS you no longer need to solve for time, so you can get the same quality position with one less satellite. There are times where this could make a huge difference.

Re:Great for GPS

[Detritus]

The Navy has been using atomic clocks for decades. Much of the technology in GPS can be traced back to early Navy programs for satellite assisted navigation. When you launch an ICBM from a submarine, you need a very accurate fix on the position of the submarine. Atomic clocks are also as timing references for secure communications links.

Re:Great for GPS

[LiquidCoooled]

There will ALWAYS be a need for an outside reference time source.

Whilst the device will keep track of time with an accuracy of 1 second in 300 years, what it can't do is keep time without power.

The effect means a video recorder still shows 00:00, just a lot more accurately than before.

Re:Great for GPS

[Rich0]

Ok, first a clarification, and then a possible alternative implementation of GPS with fewer limitations if you can assume the receiver knows the time:

First - if you have only two satellites in the present system, the solution to the distance equation is approximately a hyperbola (it would be exactly one for a flat earth). Three satellites gives you three hyperbolas, which intersect at one point. (Remember, a hyberbola is the set of points where the difference between the distance from the point to two foci is a constant.)

However, you don't have to use difference in time to implement a GPS-like system. A more direct solution is measuring absolute time to arrival for each satellite signal. This requires an atomic clock in the receiver - which is why they don't generally do it this way. If you measure absolute time to arrival you get a sphere around each satellite you receive signal from. With two satellites the intersection is a circle, but only two points of that circle lie on the surface of the earth. If you have even a remote idea of where you are (within 1000 miles or so), you should be able to figure out which one you're at. since the two points might literally be separated by more than 1000-2000 miles.

So, the two satellite system might have some use - especially if the software is smart and keeps track of state. For instance, if you are a bomb decending to a target you would use as many satellites as you can - probably 3-4 most of the time. However, if you lost all but 2 as you got close to the ground and some jamming, you can probably bet that you didn't change position much, and so you can pick the closest solution and still have some useful guidance data. So, an atomic clock would be useful for more accurate GPS...

Re:Great for GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

The Navy has been using atomic clocks for decades. Much of the technology in GPS can be traced back to early Navy programs for satellite assisted navigation. When you launch an ICBM from a submarine, you need a very accurate fix on the position of the submarine. Atomic clocks are also as timing references for secure communications links.

In fact, the entire history of accurate time can be attributed to naval navigation.

The untapped potential for customer products...

[Anonymous Coward]

...has finally been unleashed! Home users will be able to measure the relativistic effects of using table saws and ice makers.

Re:ARE YOU NUTS?!

[physicsboy500]

Wouldn't it radioactivate you or something???

Cesium is a stable isotope and is not radioactive. The only problem I see with a wrist watch containing Cesium is accidentally jumping in the pool with it or being caught in the rain.

"hey man... watch my tripple sommersault dive"

BOOM.

This had to come

[say]

After all, an atomic timekeeper is just that: atomic. It only needs to measure the radiation of a cesium atom. So the core of the clock is simple to make. All the measuring equipment, OTOH, has been huge.

But it's only natural that this becomes smaller. Give the rich part of the world ten years, and we're all spending our time wearing atomic _and_ digital watches.

Interestingly, this could affect our lifestyle. The more synchronized timepieces become, doing stuff in sync and on time gets more feasible. But that also lowers the acceptance for being late and inaccurate. And I know that I always come a few minutes late to every appointment.

Will people start yelling at me for coming only seconds late? Will the unspoken five-minute courtesy time ("the meeting starts at 2pm" really means "2:05pm") disappear? Will I become more stressful because of all this accuracy?

So, while this seems to be a step forward for mankind, it does not necessarily create more happiness. Just like an entire host of new inventions.

What bothers me with this is that it is not really useful in a wristwatch (Yes I know - they aren't making it for wristwatches yet - but just wait!). But because everyone else has one, I'll be forced to get one as well. Just like the cellular phone. And then it starts affecting my life. Scary.

Does wifi/cellular marginalize this?

[theluckyleper]

I've always imagined that the proliferation of wireless communications would eventually replace the need for having any sort of portable timing devices... I mean, my computer updates its clock from some atomic NTP server. A wifi clock could do the same.

Why carry an atomic clock, when you can talk to an even more accurate atomic clock, through the air? Although I guess the few ms of lag between the request and response might introduce too much error for some applications?

Could this be the end of NTP?

[feronti]

I mean, if every device has its own atomic clock, the only time you'd have to synchronize them would be when you bring them up, unless you were doing some kind of scientific work that requires ultra-accurate timekeeping. Most other applications (I'm thinking Kerberos, remote logging, etc) would only need to be synchronized to the second (or even less) to be useful.

Not only video games

[Pan T. Hose]

"opening the door to atomically precise timekeeping in portable, battery-powered devices for secure wireless communications, more precise navigation and..." Video games!

Not only video games. I don't know when, I don't know how, but I am sure that eventually one day someone will somehow use is for pornography...

BAD advice. Do NOT do this.

[vadim_t]

That's a very good way of getting blocked at firewall level. It's rather stupid too, since if you need so much precision just use NTP instead.

It is a wrong use of ntpdate as well. Its point is to set the time to the correct one at startup, since ntpd only makes gradual corrections and won't make time go backwards for example to avoid breaking things.

So, configure ntpdate to run once at boot, then start ntpd to keep it in sync.

Re:ARE YOU NUTS?!

[kfg]

I don't get it... Would it make a chain reaction???

No. It would make a perfectly normal, everyday exothermic chemical reaction.

Cesium FAQ

Shoudn't it be illegal to wear???!!!

If atoms are outlawed only outlaws will have atoms.

KFG

Re:Atomic clock?

[UnknowingFool]

Actually, by definition, something atomic is very small.

Most of the time that is true but in this case, an atomic clock has a very precise meaning in scientific instruments. It is a clock that counts the vibrations of atoms to determine time intervals. Accoring to SI units a second is

a fundamental unit of time in all measuring systems and the SI base unit of time. The name simply means that this unit is the second division of the hour, the minute being the first. The second was defined as 1/86 400 mean solar day until astronomers discovered that the mean solar day is actually not constant (see day). The definition was then changed to 1/86 400 of the mean solar day 1900 January 1. Since we can't go back and measure that day any more, this wasn't a real solution to the problem. In 1967, scientists agreed to define the second as that period of time which makes the frequency of a certain radiation emitted by atoms of cesium-133 equal to 9 192 631 770 hertz (cycles per second). In other words, if we really want to measure a second, we count 9 192 631 770 cycles of this radiation. This definition allows scientists to reconstruct the second anywhere in the world with equal precision.

Up until now atomic clocks like the ones used by NIST were large pieces of equipment. They were highly accurate but not very portable. Before, merchanical watches would lose seconds a day. With the use of quartz in electronic watches that dropped to about a second every 2 months. This lowers that bar even further. I'm not sure for what that level of precision could be used.

Another interesting home networking gadget

[starbird]

When can I buy a netgear networkable home atomic clock box? Plug it in to your network, and use it to update the times on all your systems, instead of pinging NTP servers.

Or put it on a pci card, I can just put it in my router box.

Checklist

[UnknowingFool]

Cell phone with web surfing: $150
Unlimited web surfing option on cell plan: $10/month
Cell phone with atomic clock and web surfing (future): $200
The ability to snipe someone on eBay for that powder blue Elvis jumpsuit: priceless

NTP

[Detritus]

If you run a full NTP client on your PC, it will compensate for the drift caused by the el cheapo crystal oscillator. By characterizing the drift, it can correct for it, even if you don't have a permanent or reliable Internet connection. It's like a software version of the trimmer capacitor that is used to adjust the frequency of a crystal oscillator.

Gravity

[Anonymous Writer]

Since atomic clocks can be used to measure effects of gravity, it would be interesting to see how mass producing atomic clock chips could be used to create maps of gravity, seeing how they can be used to reveal geological information.

*true* atomic wrist watches are available now

[wayne]

First Atomic Clock Wristwatch

Portable Interferometers, light field recorders?

[mattr]

This sounds amazing. IANA astrophysicist but it seems amateurs could do some real very long baseline interferometry with these things like the VLBA does.

It also puts military-level technology again into public hands, this seems pretty dangerous - high school kids's satellites could enable terrorist missile navigation.. oh well I guess this is inevitable.

Perhaps someone experienced could provide some input into the kinds of things this would make possible?

I'm wondering if it would enable:

- distributed seti, heck distributed lots of things.. monitoring of airspace anyone?
- precise geolocation similarly for vlba? If you can shoot the sun and have a compass, should be able to solve for own location?
- distributed measurement of environment for atmospheric simulations i.e. on ships at sea to gather wind vectors?
- high-efficiency use of wireless spectrum, maybe also data transmission in noisy environments?

from the faq, "atoms are also excellent sensors". Would this enable:
- teraherz scanners (well maybe it isn't that fast, only 9 GHz) and doppler analyzers
- portable detectors of acceleration, gravity, relativistic effects, sonar, ..what?
- also one manufacturer I remember had a very interesting application of very short radio pulses that could be used to make virtual barriers I think the military was interested in it.. Until there page was taken down..

Also I'm intrigued by the latest computer graphics research into structured light and recording of light fields with distributed cameras. It would seem that an audience with a lot of handycams and these chips could be producing an extremely interesting record of say a sporting event. A camera with a few of these chips might be quite useful.

What kind of things would be possible with off the shelf hardware and a couple of these chips?

Would these enable casual interferometry in day or night?

On the downside I saw a $10 spam sandwich by Dean and Deluca in their Shibuya Station (Tokyo) store yesterday. So some people can already make enough trouble without advanced technology perhaps. Still, the ultimate geek toy? (not the spam.. the clock)

Re:Not everybody has permanent connection!

[vadim_t]

You still can do it.

Just run ntpdate when you connect instead of on boot. And kill ntpd before disconnecting. You can do this easily on Linux. On Windows I heard some programs exist to do this as well.

This is not about broadband arrogance anyway. ntpd uses much fewer server resources than ntpdate every second. In fact, many public ntp server administrators often complain about that every hour at :00 minutes they get a ntp version of a slashdotting because people stick ntpdate in crontab.

There are many NTP servers that are free to access out there. Please keep them that way by observing a simple netiquette.

Re:ARE YOU NUTS?!

[SEWilco]

Thanks to anti-nuke propaganda, "atomic clock" might cause marketing problems. Watch for some other phrase to appear.

Battery operated? Not likely.

[unix_hacker]

The story claims that this device pulls 75 mw and that it can be run on batteries. Assuming a 3V system, that's 25 mA of current. If one if these was in a typical portable device with a 750 mAH battery, it would last for 30 hours. Less, of course, if you actually turned on the device. Basically your battery would go dead in a day or so even with the device turned off.

For reference, real time clock chips that are used in portable electronic devices today pull about 3 microwatts of current -- almost 10,000 times less than this device.