Time Dissemination Extensions to OS Net with 5G Integration and Applications

Knowledge of precise time and frequency---hence the ability to able to _synchronize_---is vital for a wide range of purposes. For example, it enables mobile networks, computer systems, control systems, among many other types of systems to operate, and it is vital to a wide range of technologies supporting everyday living. Time knowledge is also strongly related to position knowledge. For example, it is extremely precise time knowledge---and time difference calculations---that allows Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) devices to calculate distance to satellites at different locations in the sky, hence to determine precisely derive position on the surface of the planet Earth.

It is therefore vital that the _exact_ time is known in as many different locations as possible across the UK. By _exact time_ in this project, we are referring to knowing the time to an accuracy of a billionth of a second (a nano-second), and potentially even a thousand-billionth of a second (a pico-second).

Any operation of sending the precise time from one location to another leads to a loss of accuracy due to the variation in time that that communication might take. For example, if you know what the exact time was when a message was sent through a timestamp included within it but you don't know precisely how long the message took to get to you, you can no longer calculate the exact time at your location as the sum of the exact sent time and exact communication time. This project aims to address this issue through precisely measuring and stabilising the time taken for such message communications between all pairs of nodes on the Ordnance Survey Net (OS Net)---a communication network of the OS designed to assist positioning in GNSS contexts. The OS Net that offers a widespread and controlled environment through its nodes across Great Britain offering a prime opportunity to extend its range of applications in this way highly pertinently to its objectives.

Through the low and predictable delay of 5G networks, a further aim is to link the OS Net to these networks to allow precise time information to be sent to mobile devices. Numerous applications can result from this information, which the project will study. As one specific application, it will focus on highly accurate positioning through such precise time information in challenging vehicular scenarios for autonomous driving that would otherwise be impossible.