The Importance of Time Synchronization in the Local Networks of the Science and Application Center for Lunar and Deep-space Exploration

The data acquisition stations and the data processing center of the Science and Application Center for Lunar and Deep-space Exploration (SACLuDE) are located at different geographical sites. They respectively have their own local networks and interconnect with each other through access to the core data network. This paper describes the clock drift in the computer and other networked devices building up the infrastructure of the above local networks. The network time variance of the stochastic model is also estimated. The poor precision of network synchronization will bring about potential hazards to the network operation and application running in the networks, which is clarified in the present paper. At the end of the paper, a cost-effective and feasible solution is proposed based on the Global Position System (GPS) and the Network Time Protocol (NTP).

Mean and variance of first passage time of non-homogeneous random walk

The prime concern of this paper is the first passage time of a nonhomogeneous random walk, which is nearest neighbor but able to stay at its position. It is revealed that the branching structure of the walk corresponds to a 2-type non-homogeneous branching process and the first passage time of the walk can be expressed by that branching process. Therefore, one can calculate the mean and variance of the first passage time, though its exact distribution is unknown.

Research on overlapping structures and evolution properties of co-citation network

Purpose: This paper intends to explore methodologies and indicators for the analysis of overlapping structures and evolution properties in a co-citation network, and provide reference for overlapping structure analysis of other scientific networks.Design/methodology/approach: The Q-value variance is defined to achieve overlapping structures of different levels in the scientific networks. At the same time, analyses for time correlation variance and subject correlation variance are used to present the formation of overlapping structures in scientific networks. As a test, a co-citation network of highly cited papers on Molecular Biology & Genetics from Essential Science Indicator(ESI) is taken as an example for an empirical analysis.Findings: Our research showed that the Q-value variance is effective for achieving the desired overlapping structures. Meanwhile, the time correlation variance and subject correlation variance are equally useful for uncovering the evolution progress of scientific research, and the properties of overlapping structures in the research of co-citation network as well.Research limitations: In this paper, the theoretical analysis and verification of time and subject correlation variances are still at its initial stage. Further studies in this regard need to take actual evolution of research areas into consideration.Practical implications: Evolution properties of overlapping structures pave the way for overlapping and evolution analysis of disciplines or areas, this study is of practical value for the planning of scientific and technical innovation.Originality/value: This paper proposes an analytical method of time correlation variance and subject correlation variance based on the evolution properties of overlapping structures, which would provide the foundation for the evolution analysis of disciplines and interdisciplinary research.

Heuristic file sorted assignment algorithm of parallel I/O on cluster computing system

A new file assignment strategy of parallel I/O, which is named heuristic file sorted assignment algorithm was proposed on cluster computing system. Based on the load balancing, it assigns the files to the same disk according to the similar service time. Firstly, the files were sorted and stored at the set I in descending order in terms of their service time, then one disk of cluster node was selected randomly when the files were to be assigned, and at last the continuous files were taken orderly from the set I to the disk until the disk reached its load maximum. The experimental results show that the new strategy improves the performance by 20.2% when the load of the system is light and by 31.6% when the load is heavy. And the higher the data access rate, the more evident the improvement of the performance obtained by the heuristic file sorted assignment algorithm.

Applications of two-way satellite time and frequency transfer in the BeiDou navigation satellite system

A two-way satellite time and frequency transfer(TWSTFT) device equipped in the BeiDou navigation satellite system(BDS)can calculate clock error between satellite and ground master clock. TWSTFT is a real-time method with high accuracy because most system errors such as orbital error, station position error, and tropospheric and ionospheric delay error can be eliminated by calculating the two-way pseudorange difference. Another method, the multi-satellite precision orbit determination(MPOD)method, can be applied to estimate satellite clock errors. By comparison with MPOD clock estimations, this paper discusses the applications of the BDS TWSTFT clock observations in satellite clock measurement, satellite clock prediction, navigation system time monitor, and satellite clock performance assessment in orbit. The results show that with TWSTFT clock observations, the accuracy of satellite clock prediction is higher than MPOD. Five continuous weeks of comparisons with three international GNSS Service(IGS) analysis centers(ACs) show that the reference time difference between BeiDou time(BDT) and golbal positoning system(GPS) time(GPST) realized IGS ACs is in the tens of nanoseconds. Applying the TWSTFT clock error observations may obtain more accurate satellite clock performance evaluation in the 104 s interval because the accuracy of the MPOD clock estimation is not sufficiently high. By comparing the BDS and GPS satellite clock performance, we found that the BDS clock stability at the 103 s interval is approximately 10.12, which is similar to the GPS IIR.