Gps Time Clock Offset

The lack of corrections means that gps time remains at a constant offset with international atomic time tai tai gps 19 seconds.

Gps time clock offset.

In brief the offset represents the difference between what time the receiver thinks it is and the true time with the latter determined by the underlying gnss atomic time scale. In order to be more useful for timing applications gps messages contain an offset between gps and utc time which allows current utc time to be calculated by a low cost ground based receiver. The onboard satellite clocks are independent of one another. The gps navigation message includes the difference between gps time and utc.

As of march 2019 the gps time scale is 18 seconds ahead of utc. Gps time was set to match utc in 1980 but has since diverged. Periodic corrections are performed to the on board clocks to keep them synchronized with ground clocks. Periodic corrections are performed to the on board clocks to keep them synchronized with ground clocks.

While gps time itself is designed to be kept within one microsecond 1 µsec or one millionth of a second of utc excepting leap seconds the satellite clocks can be allowed to drift up to a millisecond 1 msec or one thousandth of a second from gps time. Gps global positioning system time is the atomic time scale implemented by the atomic clocks in the gps ground control stations and the gps satellites themselves. The lack of corrections means that gps time remains at a constant offset with international atomic time tai tai gps 19 seconds.