alt Hacker NewsI guess timekeeping is relatively easy? These systems would only operate independently for a few hours tops. I would imagine even a standard quartz movement would be accurate enough.
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> I guess timekeeping is relatively easy...... would imagine even a standard quartz movement would be accurate enough.
Good Lord! How wrong can you get!
Very precise timing (often taken from GNSS for convenience) is needed for much of the modern word, from IP, cellular and DAB networks, to AC phase matching the electrical mains grid. Quartz clocks are nowhere near accurate enough for these purposes.
This government report makes very sobering reading: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/satellite-derived...
TLDR: Our dependence on GNSS for timing almost dwarfs that for navigation. And we urgently need to consider using backups (be that local atomic clocks, or long wave time signals).
Depends on what you're using time for. If you are doing advanced anti-jamming for comms for instance, you want extremely accurate timing (more accurate means you can frequency hop faster and do better anti-jamming).