MSGID: 1:317/3 6279ea94   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    New method to synchronize devices on Earth makes use of cosmic rays   
      
      
     Date:   
         May 9, 2022   
     Source:   
         University of Tokyo   
     Summary:   
         Various technologies, networks and institutions benefit   
         from or require accurate time keeping to synchronize their   
         activities. Current ways of synchronizing time have some drawbacks   
         that a new proposed method seeks to address. The cosmic time   
         synchronizer works by synchronizing devices around cosmic ray   
         events detected by those devices. This could bring accurate timing   
         abilities to remote sensing stations, or even underwater, places   
         that other methods cannot serve. Early tests show promise, but   
         the real challenge may lie in the adoption of this new technique.   
      
      
      
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Various technologies, networks and institutions benefit from or require   
   accurate time keeping to synchronize their activities. Current ways of   
   synchronizing time have some drawbacks that a new proposed method seeks   
   to address. The cosmic time synchronizer works by synchronizing devices   
   around cosmic ray events detected by those devices. This could bring   
   accurate timing abilities to remote sensing stations, or even underwater,   
   places that other methods cannot serve. Early tests show promise, but   
   the real challenge may lie in the adoption of this new technique.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Humanity is intimately connected with the idea of time. Historically,   
   we used the cosmos itself -- stars, the sun, and the moon -- to measure   
   time and coordinate our activities. It's fitting, then, that researchers   
   are looking out to the cosmos again to further develop our ability to   
   keep time. Professor Hiroyuki Tanaka from Muographix at the University   
   of Tokyo devised and tested a way to synchronize multiple devices,   
   so they agree upon the time, that makes use of cosmic rays from deep   
   space. Appropriately, it's called cosmic time synchronization (CTS).   
      
   "It's relatively easy to keep time accurately these days. For   
   example, atomic clocks have been doing this for decades now," said   
   Tanaka. "However, these are large and expensive devices that are very   
   easy to disrupt. This is one reason I have been working on an improved   
   way to keep time. The other is that, related to time measurement,   
   position measurement could also be made better. So really, CTS is a   
   precursor to a potential replacement for GPS, but that's still a little   
   further down the line."  The reason it's critical for devices to have a   
   shared sense of time is that certain devices are increasingly important   
   in many aspects of life. Computer networks responsible for financial   
   transactions must agree upon time so that the order of transactions can   
   be ensured. There are sensors that work in unison to observe various   
   physical phenomena which need to agree upon time so that, for example,   
   the origin of a particular reading can be determined. Such sensors could   
   even potentially be part of some kind of disaster warning system.   
      
   CTS works thanks to cosmic rays from deep space that strike the atmosphere   
   around 15 kilometers up, creating showers of particles including   
   muons. The muons travel close to the speed of light, reaching the ground   
   almost immediately, they can easily penetrate water or rock, and spread   
   out as they travel to cover a few square kilometers of ground. Independent   
   CTS-enabled devices under the same particle shower can detect the incoming   
   muons, which will have a specific signature unique to the cosmic ray   
   event that generated them. By sharing this information, CTS devices can   
   confer with one another and synchronize their clocks according to when   
   the cosmic ray event took place. The ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray strikes   
   occur frequently enough, about a hundred times per hour over every square   
   kilometer of Earth, for CTS devices to work together in real time.   
      
   "The principle is robust, and the technology, detectors and timing   
   electronics already exist. So we could implement this idea relatively   
   quickly," said Tanaka. "Satellite-based time synchronization has so many   
   blind spots at the poles, in mountainous regions or underwater, for   
   example, and CTS could fill these gaps and more. The problem, as with   
   any new technology, is one of adoption. Thomas Edison lit up Manhattan   
   starting with a single light bulb.   
      
   Perhaps we should take that approach, starting with a city block, then a   
   district, and eventually we'll synchronize the whole of Tokyo and beyond."   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Tokyo. Note: Content   
   may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Hiroyuki K. M. Tanaka. Cosmic time synchronizer (CTS) for   
      wireless and   
         precise time synchronization using extended air showers. Scientific   
         Reports, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11104-z   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220509112046.htm   
      
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