Rubidium oscillators combine precision with cost benefits

Temex Time’s core technologies include high-precision space and commercial crystal, rubidium and hydrogen maser source, pico-second test instrument, and smart 1ns-resolution synchronisation and timekeeping clock, based on references such as GPS, Galileo, Cesium, CDMA, E1, T1, and LORAN-C.

Of particular interest for cost-sensitive, yet high performance communications applications, is the iSource+ range of rubidium oscillators. The recently announced LCR900, for example, costs just £750, making it by far the lowest priced rubidium oscillator on the market.

“Temex Time’s LCR900 makes the much higher performance Rubidium solution a viable alternative to a double-oven crystal oscillator, for low- to mid-end performance applications,” comments Howard Venning, Managing Director of Aspen Electronics.

Manufactured to the highest standards at Temex Time’s Swiss facility in Neuchatel, the LCR900 oscillators are readily available. Rubidium solutions are typically used in a variety of telecommunications, defence, navigation, broadcasting, scientific and space applications where precision, accuracy, and stability are critical factors. Rubidium clocks are used to maintain timing stability in case of loss of GPS or other network references. They are also used in test, measurement and positioning systems where precision and accuracy are paramount. Rubidium atomic standards are accurate to within 1second in 100,000 years, compared to the best ovenised crystal oscillators which are accurate to 1second in a few thousands years.

The Temex Time range of high performance oscillators expands and complements Aspen’s already broad range of oscillator products from world-class manufacturers, designed to suit a host of applications across the frequency spectrum.