5-3 JJY, The National Standard on Time and Frequency in Japan KURIHARA Noriyuki The Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) determines the national standard time and frequency in Japan, which is disseminated throughout Japan by the LF standard-time and frequency-signal emission, JJY. JJY is utilized as reference signal of radio controlled watches and clocks which have now come into wide use rapidly, and is being recognized as a social infrastructure which supports the people's living in Japan. In this paper, the follow- ings are introduced: JJY facilities with dual operation system, and future utilization and development of JJY. Keywords Frequency standard, Japan standard time, Standard-time and frequency-signal emis- sion, Radio controlled clock 1 Introduction ties have already begun in these areas. This paper will briefly describe the background of As the nation's sole agency responsible for the JJY-LF, completed LF station, operational Japan's frequency standard, the Communica- conditions, precision of the distributed JJY, tions Research Laboratory (CRL) produces the and future applications. national standard frequency and Japan Stan- dard Time, and disseminates these signals 2 Overview of standard time/fre- nationwide via LF standard-time and frequen- quency cy-signal emission (JJY-LF). JJY-LF is used as a reference signal for a growing number of Since time and frequency play an impor- radio-controlled clocks and has been recog- tant role both in daily life and in specialized nized to be a part of the national infrastruc- areas of science and technology, consistency is ture. JJY-LF was formally operated in June essential. Each industrialized country with 1999, with the Ohtakadoya-yama LF station advanced fields of science and technology (located at the top of Mt. Ohtakodoya in produces and takes responsibility for its own Fukushima prefecture) serving as the nation's high-precision national time/frequency stan- first base for JJY-LF. The Hagane-yama LF dard. In Japan, the CRL (Incorporated station (Kyushu LF station) then began similar Administrative Agency) produces, maintains, operations in October 2001, resulting in a and disseminates the national standard dual-station nationwide system of standard- time/frequency in accordance with the Min- time and frequency-signal emission. istry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Precise Japan Standard Time and standard Posts and Telecommunications Establishment frequency are expected to find applications Law, in addition to the CRL Law. Such stan- not only in the field of radio-controlled clocks dard time/frequency services are widely used but also in the areas of home appliances, time- to calibrate in-house standards for domestic business applications, and precision synchro- manufacturers of measurement devices and nization over high-speed communications net- communications devices, in the TV/radio works; in fact, a number of commercial activi- time-announcement applications that provide KURIHARA Noriyuki 179 time to the general public, or in NTT's 117 Dissemination of the JJY began on Janu- time service. ary 30, 1940, in an effort to broadcast a stan- CRL's Standard time/frequency services work dard frequency to domestic radio stations and consists of the following three factors: broadcast stations. Later, beginning in August ① Generation and maintenance of standard 1948, a time code was added to the JJY. This time and frequency time code has been used as a reference for ② International comparison of standard time TV/radio time announcement services and and frequency NTT's 117 service, and has already been ③ Dissemination of standard time and fre- established in our civic life in Japan. The JJY quency has thus served as Japan's basis of time for As for the first factor, it is essential to gen- more than half a century, throughout the post- erate a national standard time and frequency war years. that is sufficiently accurate and precise, and to At first, the standard-time and frequency- maintain this standard with a high degree of signal emission (JJY) was broadcast in the stability. The CRL generates Japan Standard shortwave (HF) band. However, since the HF Time and frequency by using 12 Cs commer- radio path depends heavily on ionospheric cial frequency standards. conditions, the use of HF raises various issues, In terms of the second factor, it is of including unstable signal receiving, insuffi- importance to ensure consistency among each cient frequency precision, and jamming. To country's national standards, therefore, the solve these problems, in 1993 a committee Bureau International des Poids et Mesures was established inside the CRL to discuss the (BIPM)[1] works with the standards authorities future standard-signal distribution policy and of each country to compare standards, via sta- to conduct a comprehensive review by using tionary satellites (two-way satellite time and questionnaires and similar means of the con- frequency transfer: TWSTFT) and/or GPS. ventional signal dissemination regime, which The results are then used to determine Coordi- relied primarily on HF standard-time and fre- nated Universal Time (UTC) and International quency-signal emission (JJY-HF). As a result, Atomic Time (TAI). The CRL, appointed by the future shape of the standard-time and fre- the BIPM as a node station in the Asia-Pacific quency-signal emission was clarified; specifi- area of the international precise time transfer cally, the use of an LF standard-time and fre- network, plays a crucial role[2] within this quency-signal emission (JJY-LF) was pro- framework. posed to ensure appropriate precision. In terms of the third factor, some ways of After a series of efforts to realize this new dissemination according to the required accu- broadcasting regime, construction of the racy must be prepared, so that the national Ohtakadoya-yama LF station[3] (Fukushima standard may be put to wide public use. prefecture) began in FY 1997, and the JJY-LF The CRL disseminates Japan Standard began formal operation on June 10 (Time Day), Time and standard frequency to society 1999. With the support of the Ohtakadoya- through various methods, including LF stan- yama LF station, the use of radio-controlled dard-time and frequency-signal emission (JJY- clocks or watches has grown rapidly ever LF, as the most popular ways, as described in since. In light of the growing role of the JJY- detail below) and telephone networks. LF in society and in view of the CRL's contin- uing responsibilities as the national standard 3 Overview of LF standard-time organization, in 1999, construction began on a and frequency-signal emission second JJY-LF station in Hagane-yama (Mt. (JJY-LF) Hagane), located at the boundary between Saga and Fukuoka prefectures. On October 1, 3.1 History of the JJY-LF 2001, two years later, the facility was com- 180 Journal of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Vol.50 Nos.1/2 2003 pleted and was in operation. Fig.1 presents an overview of the Ohtakadoya- yama LF station, and Fig.2 shows the trans- mission antenna of 200-m in height installed at the Hagane-yama LF station. Fig.1 Overview of the Ohtakadoya-yama LF station 3.2 Establishment of a dual-station Fig.2 Transmission antenna of 200-m in regime height (Hagane-yama LF station) To ensure higher reliability in broadcasting JJY-LF, it is essential to minimize service was provided with double or even triple interruptions, to make the broadcast standard redundancy in its main systems and was available nationwide, and to transmit the cor- equipped with a local power generator to rect code. Although the first JJY-LF station ensure continuous operation, service interrup- Fig.3 Operation rate and the causes of outage at the two LF stations KURIHARA Noriyuki 181 Fig.4 Locations of the JJY-LF stations and estimated strength of JJY, μV/m tion time totaled approximately 81 hours in avoid frequency interference, which would FY 2001, due to regular maintenance and to make the receiving intensity lower in certain natural disasters. However, with the start of areas. The large difference in antenna effi- the broadcasting from Hagane-yama LF sta- ciency (25% as opposed to 45%) stems from tion in October 2001 and the establishment of the different grounding efficiencies, which in the dual-station regime, the total time of oper- turn depend on the properties and structure of ation outage has been sufficiently reduced. local soil and ground water. The Fig.5 illus- Reliability is thus ensured through each sta- trates the block diagram of the JJY-LF sta- tion's role as a potential backup facility for the tions. other. Fig.3 illustrates each station's operation The broadcasting signals of the Cs atomic rate and presents the causes of outage in FY clocks placed in the standard room are adjust- 2002. Fig.4 shows the location of each station ed by an auxiliary output generator (AOG) by and the electric field strength estimated from the common view method[4] at regular inter- their transmission power. As demonstrated in vals via GPS/GLONASS satellites. This this figure, the entire nation of Japan from adjustment is performed to ensure that the tim- Hokkaido to Okinawa is covered by the both ing and frequency from the clocks match the stations, with the strength of 50 to 60 dBμV/m Japan Standard Time of CRL Headquarters available everywhere. (Koganei, Tokyo) within a margin of several nanoseconds. The carrier frequency and time 3.3 Station description of JJY code to be broadcast as the JJY-LF are gener- Table 1 shows the characteristics of each ated based on the 5-MHz and 1-PPS signals JJY-LF stations. The stations broadcast on output from the AOG, sent to a 50-kW trans- different frequencies (40kHz and 60kHz) to mitter, and then emitted from the antenna via 182 Journal of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Vol.50 Nos.1/2 2003 the impedance matching facility room.