Mission success can come down to mere millionths or billionths of a second and current military systems that rely on global positioning system (GPS) timing updates are inherently vulnerable. Though GPS is a revolutionary capability, it is unreliable underground or underwater and can be degraded or unavailable due to adversarial signal jamming.

To overcome these limitations, DARPA's H6 program seeks to develop ultra-small, low-power, fieldable clocks that can maintain their microsecond timing precision for one week over an operating range of -40 to 85 Celsius without GPS fixes.

"When clockmaker John Harrison developed his H1 through H5 marine chronometers to compete for British Parliament's 1714 Longitude Act prize, determining longitude was the tactical mission challenge of the era," said Jonathan Hoffman, DARPA program manager for H6 in the agency's Microsystems Technology Office.

"Today, GPS denial is the most significant PNT [positioning, navigation and timing] challenge. H6 is the spiritual successor to Harrison's H5, and with it we aim to remove GPS-timing dependency while maintaining signal assurance, pervasive security, and high-bandwidth communications. H6 is the clock Harrison would build to solve today's tactical mission challenge of GPS denial."

Successful H6 proposers will solve the GPS denial challenge with technology that achieves this goal within low size, weight and power (SWaP) constraints.

The program has three phases. In Phase 1, performers will address both clock dependence on temperature and SWaP reduction. In Phase 2, performers will address clock aging, with operation demonstrated throughout the tactical temperature range. In Phase 3, performers are expected to demonstrate a fully integrated tactical-grade clock and the fabrication and delivery of five clocks.

The Broad Agency Announcement with full details for this opportunity is available on sam.gov. Abstracts are due June 16, 2022, with proposals due August 8. The work is expected to kick off in January 2023.

A virtual Proposers Day for those interested in submitting proposals is set for 11 a.m. EDT Monday, May 23. Advance registration is required by Wednesday, May 18 at 4 p.m., with limited capacity available on the webcast platform.

Related Links
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Understanding Time and Space

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Keeping time with the cosmos
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) May 10, 2022
Various technologies, networks and institutions benefit from or require accurate time keeping to synchronize their activities. Current ways of synchronizing time have some drawbacks that a new proposed method seeks to address. The cosmic time synchronizer works by synchronizing devices around cosmic ray events detected by those devices. This could bring accurate timing abilities to remote sensing stations, or even underwater, places that other methods cannot serve. Early tests show promise, but the real ... read more