Link calibration or receiver calibration for accurate time transfer?

Abstract

In almost all the studies, the differential receiver calibration and the link calibration had been discussed separately as if the two calibrations were completely independent. In fact, in the sense of the total delay for UTC time transfer, the difference between the receiver and link calibrations is not how to perform the calibration measurement but how to use the measurement data. The two calibration results are convertible to each other under certain condition. We discuss the features, advantages and disadvantages of the link and receiver calibrations, their uncertainties, and in particular, their applications in the computation of [UTC-UTC(k)].