Accurate time keeping is required by many technologies, networks and institutions. A new method seeks to address some of the drawbacks of current methods. The devices that are detected by the devices are used to sync the time. This could bring accurate timing abilities to places that other methods can't. The early tests show promise, but the real challenge may lie in the adoption of this new technique.
The idea of time is connected to humanity. The stars, the sun, and the moon have historically been used to measure time and coordinate activities. Researchers are looking out to the universe to further develop their ability to keep time. The professor from Muographix at the University of Tokyo came up with a way to make use of the rays from deep space. It is called Cosmic Time Synchronization.
It is easy to keep time accurate these days. For example, atomic clocks have been doing this for a long time. I have been working on an improved way to keep time. The position measurement could be made better. So really, it is a start to a potential replacement for gps, but that is still a little further down the line.
It is important for devices to have a shared sense of time due to the fact that certain devices are important in many aspects of life. The order of transactions can be ensured if the computer networks agree on time. For example, the origin of a particular reading can be determined with the help of sensors that work in unison to observe various physical phenomena. Some kind of disaster warning system could use such sensors.
Cosmic rays from deep space create showers of particles in the atmosphere around 15 kilometers up. The muons travel close to the speed of light, reaching the ground almost immediately, they can easily penetrate water or rock, and spread out as they travel to cover a few square kilometers of ground. The incoming muons can be detected by independent devices under the same shower. By sharing this information with one another, the devices can coordinate their clocks according to the time of the Cosmic Ray event. Every square kilometer of Earth has a Cosmic Ray strike that occurs about a hundred times per hour.
The principle is robust and the technology already exists. So we could implement this idea relatively quickly. Adoption is the problem with any new technology. The first light bulb to be lit up by Thomas Edison was in Manhattan. Maybe we should start with a city block, then a district, and eventually we will have a unified Tokyo.
The study is in Scientific Reports.
More information: Hiroyuki K. M. Tanaka, Cosmic time synchronizer (CTS) for wireless and precise time synchronization using extended air showers, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11104-z Journal information: Scientific Reports Citation: A new method to synchronize devices on Earth makes use of cosmic rays (2022, May 9) retrieved 9 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-method-synchronize-devices-earth-cosmic.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
