[time-nuts] Rb as source for ADEV?
Tom Van Baak
tvb at LeapSecond.com
Thu Feb 6 23:27:05 EST 2014
> Averaging time is unfortunate in several aspects, part for it not being
> averaging being done and part for the fact that averaging is a separate
> processing step that can be done, and you can make a plot orthogonal to
> the ADEV plot with various degrees of averaging-pre-filter.
I agree.
> The MDEV uses a tau averaging for a tau observation time.
>
> The tau is really the observation time, and ADEV is the frequency
> stability for that observation time, that is the ROMS relative frequency
> noise when observing it tau seconds later. Similarly the TDEV is the
> time stability in RMS s for the observation time tau.
The phrase "observation time" is probably no better than "averaging time" for the x-axis label; they both give the impression of elapsed time to newcomers. Both "observation" and "averaging" connote run time or elapsed time or experiment duration. I would stay away from the word "time" on the ADEV x-axis completely. Using the word "interval" (as in "sampling interval") is good; the least likely to be confused with elapsed time. Also, it's always nice to add "tau" to the axis label since that letter is universally associated with sampling in T&F metrology.
Stable32 uses "Averaging Time, tau, Seconds". TimeLab avoids the issue by not having labels.
/tvb
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