ACCUMULATED JITTER MEASUREMENT OF STANDARD CLOCK OSCILLATORS

Long term instability of frequency and phase fluctuations of the clock signal are significant source of the measurement error in the precise time-interval measurement systems. In this paper the problem of clock signal instability, fluctuations caused by accumulated clock jitter and their influence on the precision of the time-interval measurement system implemented in the programmable CMOS FPGA devices are discussed. The presented method enables jitter characterization of the reference-clock. Moreover, the time-interval-error in the range up to several miliseconds can be easily and quickly calculated using only two parameters obtained during the calibration process. The described method can be applied in measurement instruments with a precise time-base