Rubidium Atomic Clock with Improved Metrological Characteristics for Satellite Communication System

One of the essential elements of satellite communication system is an atomic clock. The proper operation of this system depends on the performance of atomic clock. In this paper one of the directions of modernization of the rubidium atomic clocks is considered. A new design of the frequency synthesis circuitry is presented. The new design of frequency synthesizer is based on method of direct digital synthesis. Theoretical calculations and experimental research showed a decrease in the step frequency tuning by several orders and significant improvement in the spectral characteristics of the output signal of frequency converter. A range of generated output frequencies is expanded. A summary of performance results of rubidium atomic clock, in particularly Allan variance, achieved to date is also provided.