Evaluation of L5 Band GNSS for Use in Time-Transfer

The L5 frequency band of GPS features a higher power, higher code rate, and superior performance in GNSS denied or degraded environments. GPS L5 is pre-operational at time of writing with 17 satellites but has sufficient coverage for testing and utilizing its performance almost fully. In this paper, the satellite metadata, signal to noise, position uncertainty, and time uncertainty are tested under various conditions. The inclusion of the L5 frequency band shows slightly improved performance under normal rooftop antenna conditions and significantly improved performance in degraded signal environments. Incorporating L5 band signals into GNSS time transfer provides opportunities to use traceable time transfer in previously inaccessible situations and to improve uncertainty in current applications.