Temperature compensation of a rubidium frequency standard
US6710663B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 25, 2002 |
| Grant date | Mar 23, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 25, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH03L7/26
- WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A rubidium frequency standard is compensated for frequency variations over temperature by allowing the rubidium frequency standard to vary while holding the output frequency constant. A voltage controlled crystal oscillator, locked to a physics package, provides the output signal. A temperature sensor senses temperature and proves a temperature signal to a microcontroller. A frequency synthesizer receives the output signal from the voltage controlled crystal oscillator as a reference and provides an RF signal to the physics package. The microcontroller looks up a frequency error in a memory in accordance with the temperature signal, generates an offset control word for the frequency synthesizer to compensate for the temperature and adjusts the VCXO with an error signal to compensate for temperature.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.