Pulse-per-second signal

<h2 id="physical-representation">Physical representation</h2>
<p>PPS signals are usually generated as a <a href="/facts/Transistor%25E2%2580%2593transistor_logic/z4bvHotl">TTL</a> signal capable of driving a 1-<a href="/facts/Kiloohm/QNVrlGjw">kiloohm</a> load. Some sources use line drivers in order to be capable of driving 50-<a href="/facts/Ohm/QNVrlGjw">ohm</a> <a href="/facts/Transmission_line/cYlqaPo3">transmission lines</a>. Because of the broad frequency contents, along the transmission line can have a significant impact on the shape of the PPS signal due to dispersion and after delivery effects of the dielectric of the transmission line. It is common to set t0 at the voltage level of the steepest slope of a PPS signal. PPS signals are therefore notoriously unreliable when time transfer accuracies better than a nanosecond are needed, although the stability of a PPS signal can reach into the picosecond regime depending on the generating device.
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<h2 id="uses">Uses</h2>
<p>PPS signals are used for precise timekeeping and time measurement.  One increasingly common use is in computer timekeeping, including <a href="/facts/Network_Time_Protocol/vS21KqT5">NTP</a>.  Because GPS is considered a <a href="/facts/Network_Time_Protocol/vS21KqT5">stratum</a>-0 source, a common use for the PPS signal is to connect it to a PC using a low-latency, low-<a href="/facts/Jitter/UpLIJDVQ">jitter</a> wire <a href="/facts/Electrical_connection/rJh0cHs6">connection</a> and allow a program to synchronize to it. This makes the PC a stratum-1 time source.  Note that because the PPS signal does not specify the time, but merely the start of a second, one must combine the PPS functionality with another time source that provides the full date and time in order to ascertain the time both accurately and precisely.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Clock_signal/9UfTzGHx">Clock signal</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/IRIG_timecode/ctJTHc0Q">Inter-Range Instrumentation Group</a> (IRIG) time codes</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Precise_Time_and_Time_Interval/UsQRDDwg">Precise Time and Time Interval</a> (PTTI)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Square_wave_(waveform)/h1cWR1KM">Square wave</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Timecode/czFCXVC7">Timecode</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://pos.mgb-tech.com/insightpps/">PPS pulse and PPS pulse distribution</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.arbiter.com/files/product-attachments/pd0043200_timing_signals_overview.pdf">Timing Signals, IRIG, 1PPS</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20190028909/downloads/20190028909.pdf">Using GPS Receiver 1PPS Output to Verify Time Stamp Accuracy and Measure Propagation Delay</a></li></ul>
<p>Sites that describe how to use the PPS signal to set precise time on a PC:
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<ul><li>In <a href="/facts/OpenBSD/xmPS9tek">OpenBSD</a> 4.1 <a href="https://man.openbsd.org/nmea.4">the nmea(4) line discipline</a> can <a href="https://man.openbsd.org/ldattach.8">attach to a GPS timer</a> and optionally use the PPS signal for low jitter and high accuracy in system time and NTP time</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080212004332/http://gpsd.berlios.de/">gpsd — a GPS service daemon</a>, required to activate PPS signal on some devices (works in conjunction with OpenBSD's nmea line discipline if installed via ports tree and a stand-alone service daemon for other operating systems)</li>
<li><a href="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2783">RFC 2783 Pulse-Per-Second API for UNIX-like Operating Systems, Version 1.0</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>[1] Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine M. Siccardi, About time measurements, EFTF 2012 <a href="http://www.eftf.org/proceedings/proceedingsEFTF2012.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.eftf.org/proceedings/proceedingsEFTF2012.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>[2]ICD-GPS-060B: GPS User Equipment (Phase III) Interface Control Document for the Pecise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Interface, Global Positioning System Joint Program Office, 2002 <a href="https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/gps/ICD-GPS-060B.pdf" target="_blank">https://navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/gps/ICD-GPS-060B.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>BIPM (September 4, 2019). "SI Units 2019 Brochure" (PDF) (9th ed.). Retrieved September 13, 2019. <a href="/wiki/International_Bureau_of_Weights_and_Measures" target="_blank">/wiki/International_Bureau_of_Weights_and_Measures</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Pulse-per-second signal open-in-new

Pulse-per-second signal