Passionate about science? Intrigued by changing technologies? Do you like money?
How about $2500?
That is right! We are reaching out to students to help us identify ways data collection can be improved with precise timing information. Our goal is to identify new ways of looking at data acquisition. How can data be improved if we precisely known the time the data was taken? One simple application of time information is to correlate measurements performed at different locations. Additionally, with time information, transit times can be measured.
How to win?
Submit a minimum 1 page proposal on how precision time improves measurements.
First place: $2500
Second place: $250
Deadline for Submission: June 30th, 2017
Submissions should describe an experiment made possible with precise timing. Experiments can be from any field including, but not limited to: physics, atmospheric sciences, geology, environment sciences, astronomy or biology. The type of measurement can by any type that is feasible with current technology. (For example, measurements on the surface of Mars are fine, but measurements at the center of a black hole are not.)
The contest is open to all students, including undergrad, graduate, and post-doc. Professors and professionals may contribute, but the student must remain the primary author. You may submit as a group or individual. Read below for further information on the topic, examples of uses, and outside references for suggested research. The entries will be judged based on the importance of the work and how necessary timing information is to the success of the experiment.
Why Precision Time?
Precision time is an enabling technology for GPS and cellphones. It played an essential role in the detection of gravitation waves at LIGO. The cost of timing is dropping, which opens new possibilities. Furthermore, precision timing can provide an on-ramp to Big Data by allowing heterogeneous datasets to be combined and compared.
What is Precision Time?
Most people have an understanding of time and how it works. People timestamp (i.e. date) the important events in their lives such as birthdays or anniversaries. Precision timestamping is the same thing, just with much greater accuracy. In a nutshell, this technology allows measurements to be tagged with the exact time the data was taken. With modern equipment, event timing can be accurate to 1 billionth of a second. We are interested in how the timing information can improve or enable experiments. We are looking for unique responses, so be creative!
Who are we?
Lithe Technology is a Tucson-based technology company that develops products with measurement capabilities and precision timing. We believe a new class of data analysis is possible when measurements include accurate timestamps. While Lithe has some ideas what can be done with the capability, we are interested in what you can devise.
Example 1: Using a Geiger counter to timestamp radioactive decay. Decay density can be correlated with environment events such as sunspot activity or solar radiation. For this example, we assume environmental data is available from online sources. This is acceptable if the data is something that can reasonably be expected to exist. For example, NOAA maintains an extensive database of weather data that is available online.
Big Data: One area Lithe considers especially relevant is the combination of measurement using “Big” Data. For example, time correlation of different measurements is possible when they all conclude precise timing.
Outside Research to Explore:
sevensols.com : A company that focuses in the timing and measurement industry, and has great descriptions on their product applications and the uses of precise timing.
http://www.gps.gov/applications/timing/: An overview on precision time papers–generally speaking the GPS system is used as the basis of most precision time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison: A real life case study of how John Harrison used time and measurement to accurately measure longitude.
Lithe Technology has a goal of promoting the combination of measurement and time and the possibilities it can create. To assist with the effort, best submissions may be published on our website and used in Lithe Marketing materials. All work will be credited to the contributors. To ensure legalities are put in place, authors will be required to sign a waiver that allows Lithe to use their work.