[LEAPSECS] Royal Academy of Engineering

Steve Allen sla at ucolick.org
Wed Mar 9 17:23:15 EST 2011


This report on GNSS vulnerabilities contains a paragraph on leap seconds

http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/reports/Global_Navigation_Systems.pdf

Leap seconds and roll-overs -- Generally the correct ongoing function of a
GPS receiver can be tested and verified by manufacturers and users within
the course of hours or days. GPS, however, is subject to events which occur
rarely and may not be accounted for properly and only discovered after the
event has occurred. GPS had a numerical roll-over in August 1999^11 that
upset some receivers, and also the derivation of UTC from GPS time is subject
to leap seconds once every few years that must be correctly handled.
Although the ICD200 describes the correct way to handle leap seconds,
some receivers still handle them wrongly and can cause a timing error.

--
Steve Allen <sla at ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855
1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m


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