Atomic Clock Chip - Fab, or Just Another Fad?

[Darius Wey]

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11160709%5E15841%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

I was reading an article in The Australian just then, and came across the concept of an atomic clock chip. "Bla bla bla", I thought. Until I came across this interesting passage:

Kitching says chip-scale atomic clocks have many potential uses. In wireless communications devices, such clocks, known for their precision, could improve network synchronisation and channel selection to enhance security. In Global Positioning System receivers they could improve the precision of satellite-based navigation vehicles and emergency response networks.

Kitching also states that the atomic clock chip runs off very electrical power so the chip may show some sort of potential in future handheld devices. So what do you think? Faboulous idea, or just another technological fad?

[TheOrange]

I could see government agengcies using something like this for some equipment/devices. There should be a good amount of commercial use as well, but there probably isn't a tremendous amount of real need for something like this on the consumer end. Bottom line:

FAD.

[maximus]

With this atomic clock on your PDA, it will guarantee the accuracy of your GPS unit to the nearest millimeter ... and when you set your alarm clock at 5:00 AM, you can be sure that it will start at 5:00:00.000000, instead of 5:00:00.000001 ?

Nice, but I'd rather have a regular (non atomic) clock PPCPE with VGA, 128 ram, 256 rom, 2 megapixel camera and dual SD slot :)

[tigga]

Well, being a developer of "in the field" software, having an accurate clock would most certainly be welcome.

I just cant trust the users of the PPC to charge their devices never mind set the clock... I always have to make "allowances" for this by recording the upload time on the server... but as the unit may be out in the field all day its difficult to acertain the the exact time a, in my case, vehicle was inspected.

Fad maybe, but welcome, sure :)

[Brad Adrian]

How much accuracy and precision are needed to do the things the article mentions? It could be that other means could be used. For example, once a week I automatically synchronize my desktop PC with the government's atomic clock; the PC in turn synch my PPC and watch clocks. So, during the course of a week, I'm never more than a second out of synch.

Is that sufficient? If so, it's a much easier scenario.

[disconnected]

I find time-zone changes confusing enough that I never change the time on my iPAQ when I travel. I never set alarms, and the iPAQ's time isn't necessarily correct, depending on where I am, but at least the time shown for appointments is correct. I wouldn't want all the appointments to change automatically when I cross a time zone.

[Darius Wey]

I find time-zone changes confusing enough that I never change the time on my iPAQ when I travel. I never set alarms, and the iPAQ's time isn't necessarily correct, depending on where I am, but at least the time shown for appointments is correct. I wouldn't want all the appointments to change automatically when I cross a time zone.

In this case, CityTime (http://www.codecity.net/prodctppc.htm) may be of interest to you. It provides the ability to set city-specific appointments with tight integration in key PIM utilities, and the time facilities provided by this application are excellent. The world is in your hands... ;)