It’s related to power generation. Finding line faults, keeping equipment at 60hz or 50hz whatever they use there.
They need precision location information for multiple power plants. They can do without it but you end up with dirty power which most equipment doesn’t like very much and some will shut off and not work at all or break.
You can make a reference oscillator almost as precise as an atomic clock with a temperature compensated crystal oscillator. They cost tens of dollars.
We've also been synchronizing grid generation since long before spaceflight. It seems that the core problems here have been solved a long time ago.
Then again, I don't know much about the grid at this scale. I very much doubt that a few PPM phase difference would actually matter, but I don't really know.
Either way, it still seems insane to rely on GPS for your sole source of truth, even with its remarkable reliability.
Comments
It’s related to power generation. Finding line faults, keeping equipment at 60hz or 50hz whatever they use there.
They need precision location information for multiple power plants. They can do without it but you end up with dirty power which most equipment doesn’t like very much and some will shut off and not work at all or break.
I remember UK had an issue where they produced low frequency power and everyone’s kettles started turning on early due to the clock mismatch. https://medium.com/drax/what-is-electrical-frequency-and-why...
You can make a reference oscillator almost as precise as an atomic clock with a temperature compensated crystal oscillator. They cost tens of dollars.
We've also been synchronizing grid generation since long before spaceflight. It seems that the core problems here have been solved a long time ago.
Then again, I don't know much about the grid at this scale. I very much doubt that a few PPM phase difference would actually matter, but I don't really know.
Either way, it still seems insane to rely on GPS for your sole source of truth, even with its remarkable reliability.