• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.273-281
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• 2003

This paper proposes a new time synchronization scheme for the Automatic Identification System(AIS). The proposed scheme utilizes a Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator(TCXO) as a local reference clock, and consists of a Digitally Controlled Oscillator(DCO), a divider, a phase comparator, and register blocks. Primary time reference is IPPS from GPS receiver that is synchronized to Universal Time Coordinated(UTC). And if GPS is unavailable, other station's signal is utilized as secondary time reference. The phase comparator measures time difference between the 1PPS and the generated transmit clock. The measured time difference is compensated by controlling the DCO and the transmit clock is synchronized to the Universal Time Coordinated(UTC). The synchronized transmit clock(9600Hz) is divided into the transmitting time slot(37.5Hz). The proposed scheme is tested in an experimental AIS transponder set. The experimental result shows that the proposed module satisfies the timing specification of the AIS technical standard, ITU-R M.1371-1.