The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a 24-satellite constellation owned and operated by the U.S. Government as a national resource.  The Department of Defense (DOD) is the "steward" of GPS, and as such, is responsible for operating the system in accordance with the signal specification.  GPS is primarily used for navigation purposes and it can tell you where you are in 3-dimensions (latitude, longitude, and altitude).  GPS solutions can tell you your exact position on the Earth anytime and anywhere.  A lesser known capability of GPS is its ability to tell you exactly what time it is down to the 100-nanosecond level.

GPS provides the timing reference for the vast majority of precision time and frequency products today.  Inexpensive navigation "engines" are available from several large manufacturers, such as Motorola and Trimble Navigation, that can provide a 1 Pulse Per Second (1PPS) output generally accurate to about 100 nanoseconds.  By themselves, these navigation engines are not stable enough for precision timing applications.  So we integrate the reference timing provided by these engines with sophisticated software algorithms that perform integrity monitoring and frequency control.

The result is a very stable and reliable time & frequency reference that can be used in a variety of applications including communication systems, satellite earth stations, military test ranges, process automation, power system control, television broadcast, and more.