Time and Frequency Services
The Time and Frequency Services group distributes standard time and frequency signals generated by the Coordinated Universal Time scale, UTC(NIST), maintained at the NIST laboratories in Boulder, Colorado. UTC(NIST) is the U. S. national standard for time-of-day, time interval, and frequency.
UTC(NIST) is freely distributed to many millions of users through radio, Internet, and telephone links. The services that distribute UTC(NIST) include shortwave radio stations WWV and WWVH, low frequency radio station WWVB, the Internet Time Service (ITS), the Automated Computer Time Service (ACTS), the telephone time service, and the web clock (time.gov). These services synchronize hundreds of millions of clock every day.
UTC(NIST) is also distributed through remote calibration services to paying customers who need the highest levels of accuracy. The demanding measurement needs of these customers are met through the Frequency Measurement and Analysis Service (FMAS) and the Time Measurement and Analysis Service (TMAS).
Projects and Programs
SIM Time Scale
To support time and frequency metrology throughout the Americas, the Sistema Interamericano de Metrologia (SIM) Time and Frequency Metrology Working Group (TFMWG) maintains the SIM time scale (SIMT), the first continuously maintained multi-national ensemble time scale that is generated and published in real time (updated every hour). SIMT complements the world's official time scale, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), by providing real time support to operational timing and calibration systems in the SIM region. The stability of SIMT is superior to most SIM local time scales and SIMT also provides a good approximation of UTC timing accuracy (±15 ns).
Standard Reference Instruments (SRI)
NIST is consolidating its provision of reference instrumentation and devices into a new Standard Reference Instrumentation (SRI) program.