Time and frequency

A reliable source of timing and synchronisation standards and services

As the UK's home of precise time and frequency measurement, NPL offers a range of services providing access to a reliable and trusted source of time.

Clocks and frequency standards are key to the dissemination of high-accuracy time services to UK science, technology and industry. They ensure compatibility with international time scales through worldwide time transfer and clock comparison. Methods for comparing geographically separated clocks and frequency standards are vital for the development of improved standards, generation of the international time scale and provision of services to UK industry.

At NPL we operate the national time scale UTC(NPL) and the UK primary frequency standards, which contribute to global timekeeping. We disseminate accurate time and frequency to users across the UK, via services such as the MSF radio time signal, our internet time service and NPLTime^®, and offer a characterisation service for clocks and frequency standards. 

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