Time and Frequency activities at CENAMEP Panama, 2015.

History of the Laboratory (I) October 31, 2002: CENAMEP was officially inaugurated as part of the SENACYT. October 2003: with the TTS-2 receiver we started to report to the UTC and developed new calibration services 2007: the government recognized CENAMEP as the National Metrology Laboratory of Panama. 2008: CENAMEP started as an independent metrology institute named CENAMEP AIP (Centro Nacional de Metrología de Panamá, Asociación de Interés Público)

History of the Laboratory (I) 2009: the government recognized CENAMEP AIP standards as the National Standards of Panama. 2010: UTC(CNMP) is declared the official time of the Panamanian government. October 2011: CENAMEP AIP started to build its new laboratories. The original date to move to the new laboratories was in the second trimester of But due to some situations, the move was delayed and we don’t have official dates to start the move

International comparisons: – October 2003: Joined the UTC Key comparison. – December 2005: Joined the SIM T&F Network. – January 2012: Joined the UTCr pilot project. Local comparison: – March 2013: Start the comparison of the 3 cesium beam clocks. History of the Laboratory (II)

History of the Laboratory (III) 2006: First calibrations and measurement capabilities included in the BIPM database. 2007: Beginning of the dissemination of the time using a Web Clock. 2008: Start to disseminate the time using the NTP servers (restricted only for government) 2009: Start to disseminate the time using the telephone line (project developed by CENAM) 2011: Last calibrations and measurement capabilities include in the BIPM database

Laboratory Staff Three metrologist form the T&F staff and work in: – 3 labs in the Time and frequency metrology. – 2 labs in the RF and µW metrology. Give support in: – 3 labs in electrical metrology. Participating in SIM Working Groups: – Time and Frequency (MWG 5) – Statistics and Uncertainty (MWG 13)

Laboratory Equipment Three commercial Cesium beam clock. 2 GPS multichannel receiver (TTS-2 and SIM system). 1 multichannel measurement system. 1 frequency offset generator. 2 GPSDO. 2 signal distributors (10 MHz and 1 PPS). 3 Universal counters (1 Hz to 225 MHz). 2 signal generators (1 Hz to 3 GHz)

Laboratory Equipment 2 optical tachometers. 1 Chronometer. 1 Oscilloscope. 1 Time and frequency acquisition card. 2 NTP server. 1 Web server. 3 Time server by voice. Software for calibration and verification automation

Time and Frequency metrology activities T&F activities are performed in three laboratories but only its quality system, meanwhile we move to the new building. The laboratories are under the Electromagnetic Magnitudes Coordination and are: – Time and Frequency Primary Laboratory. – Time and Frequency Secondary Laboratory. – Time and Frequency Dissemination Laboratory

T&F Primary Laboratory

T&F Primary Laboratory Maintenance of the National Time and Frequency Standards and the National Time. Realization and improvement of the UTC(CNMP), UTCr(CNMP) and the SIMT(CNMP). Provide traceability and support to the CENAMEP laboratories. Development of software to automatize the laboratory process. Participate in the UTC, UTCr and SIMT comparisons

T&F Primary Laboratory Comparison between the Cesium clock and each clock with UTC(CNMP). Implementation of a linear prediction methodology to adjust of UTC(CNMP) using the UTCr and the SIMT. Implementation of a timescale algorithm (evaluating the implementation of the CENAM, ONRJ and SIMT algorithms). Insert leaps seconds when the IERS indicate (one in June of this year)

T&F Secondary Laboratory

T&F Secondary Laboratory Provide calibration in T&F services under the ISO Development of new calibration method seeking to lower the costs and uncertainty calibration. Development of software to automatize the laboratory process. Achieve new CMC in the BIPM database. Calibration and measurement knowledge transfer (trainings). Support the traceability of secondary laboratories through calibrations

T&F Dissemination Laboratory

T&F Dissemination Laboratory Dissemination of the National Time - UTC(CNMP). Development new time transfer methods to disseminate the time and frequency. Support the traceability of the CENAMEP laboratories through the dissemination of the 10 MHz and the 1 PPS signals. Participate in the SIM NTP comparison

Other T&F activities Participation in national and international congresses and symposiums. Participation in the national media (TV, radio and newspaper). Collaboration with other NMI in T&F technical and quality activities. Participation in T&F activities of the SIM and BIPM. Collaboration with national government agencies (time stamping, digital signature, time reference for government activities, expert for time coding interpretation, etc.)

Service T&F stats UTC(CNMP) is ± 70 ns since January 2013 (Circular T). Tachometer and chronometer calibration are the most demanded service (more that the 70% of the calibrations). Oscillator calibration is the less demanded (2 per year). More that 7 clients of NTP synchronization service (one year contract per client). Web Clock page is visited near to per day

Laboratory weakness The majority of the equipment has been continuously working for over 10 years (2 cesium clocks, TTS-2 receiver, counters, signal distributors, UPS, etc.). Physical space and electrical capabilities are still limited. Need for more coordination with national authorities. Little recognition by the general public (Panama's population is near to 4 millions)

Actual work Software for the automatic report process to the BIPM (monthly and weekly files). The CENAMEP Time Scale (the SIMT algorithm is now being evaluated as a candidate to be the base algorithm). New calibration services: time delay (generators and cables), oscilloscopes and heart monitors (electrocardiogram and heartbeat counters). This year we need to conduce a new peer review to demonstrate the vitality of our CMC. Establish a law for the Panama time zone and the country´s legal National Time

Future work Keep the UTC(CNMP) under the ± 25 ns range. New calibration services: remote standards calibration and stroboscopes. Include new CMCs in BIPM database. A multi chronometer and tachometer calibration system (more that 4 units per round). A VoiP time dissemination service. A Time and Frequency Group web page for the CENAMEP

¡Thanks! Raúl Fernando Solís Betancur