Time::TT::Agencies - list of Terran horological agencies
Precision timekeeping on Terra is a complex task undertaken by a group of about seventy agencies around the planet, mostly national metrological laboratories. The time scales that they produce are conventionally labelled using short abbreviations, mostly of two to four letters, identifying the agency concerned. This document lists the abbreviations and their meanings.
The BIPM maintains a similar list at ftp://ftp2.bipm.fr/pub/tai/publication/acronyms.txt, but that only includes current laboratory abbreviations, and does not include special cases such as GPS. The list below is more complete.
Alternate Master Clock station of USNO, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States of America
Astrogeodynamical Observatory, Space Research Centre P.A.S., Borowiec, Poland
Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, United States of America
[no information available]
consortium of laboratories in Australia
Bundesamt fur Eich- und Vermessungswesen (Federal Office for Calibration and Surveying), Vienna, Austria
Bureau international des poids et mesures (International Bureau of Weights and Measures), Sevres, France
Beijing Institute of Radio Metrology and Measurement, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Stazione Astronomica di Cagliari (Cagliari Astronomical Observatory), Cagliari, Italy
Metrology and Accreditation (METAS), Switzerland
Centro Nacional de Metrologia (CENAM) (National Centre of Metrology), Queretaro, Mexico
Centro Nacional de Metrologia de Panama (National Centre of Metrology of Panama), Panama
Communications Research Laboratory, Tokyo, Japan (renamed to NICT in 2004-04)
[name missing], Lintong, People's Republic of China (renamed to NTSC in 2002-01)
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa
Deutsche Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Centre), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
[name and location missing] (renamed to CSIR in 1993)
Deutsche Telekom AG, Darmstadt, Germany
Commission Nationale de l'Heure (National Time Commission), Paris, France
Forschungs- und Technologiezentrum (Research and Technology Centre), Darmstadt, Germany (renamed to DTAG in 1996-05)
Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS)
Global Positioning System
Glowny Urzad Miar (Central Office of Measures), Warsaw, Poland (succeeded by PL in 2001-07)
Hong Kong Observatory, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Istituto Elettrotecnico Nazionale Galileo Ferraris (Galileo Ferraris National Electrical Engineering Institute), Turin, Italy (renamed to IT in 2006-02)
Bundesamt fur Kartographie und Geodasie (Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy), Fundamental station, Wettzell, Kotzting, Germany
Instituto Geografico Militar (Military Geographic Institute), Buenos Aires, Argentina
National Physical Laboratory, Jerusalem, Israel
Institute Portugues da Qualidade (Portuguese Institute of Quality), Monte de Caparica, Portugal
Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (National Institute of Metrological Research), Turin, Italy
Joint Atomic Time Commission, Lintong, People's Republic of China
Justervesenet, Norwegian Metrology and Accreditation Service, Kjeller, Norway
Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Korea Standards Research Institute, Daejeon, Republic of Korea (renamed to KRIS in 1991-10)
University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Lithuanian National Metrology Institute, Vilnius, Lithuania
Centre for Metrology and Accreditation, Espoo, Finland
Measurement Standards Laboratory, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
National Astronomical Observatory, Misuzawa, Japan
National Astronomical Observatory, Misuzawa, Japan (renamed to NAO in 1997-01)
National Astronomical Observatory, Tokyo, Japan
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Tokyo, Japan
National Institute of Metrology, Beijing, People's Republic of China
National Institute of Metrology, Bucharest, Romania
National Institute of Metrology, Bangkok, Thailand
National Institute for Standards, Cairo, Egypt
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
National Centre of Metrology, Sofia, Bulgaria
National Metrology Institute of Japan, Tsukuba, Japan
National Measurement Laboratory, Sydney, Australia
National Metrology Laboratory of SIRIM Berhad, Sepang, Malaysia
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, United Kingdom
National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India
National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
National Research Laboratory of Metrology, Tsukuba, Japan (renamed to NMIJ in 2001-12)
National Time Service Centre of China, Lintong, People's Republic of China
Orszagos Meresugyi Hivatal (National Office of Measures), Budapest, Hungary
Observatorio Naval (Naval Observatory), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Observatorio Nacional (National Observatory), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Observatoire de Paris (Paris Observatory), Paris, France
Observatoire Royal de Belgique (Royal Observatory of Belgium), Brussels, Belgium
Physics and Engineering Laboratory, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (renamed to MSL in 1992)
Polski Komitet Normalizacji (Polish Committee for Standardization), Warsaw, Poland (renamed to GUM in 1994)
consortium of laboratories in Poland
National Measurement Centre, Singapore Productivity and Standards Board, Singapore (renamed to SG in 2002-03)
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (Federal Standards Laboratory), Braunschweig, Germany
[no information available]
Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada (Royal Spanish Naval Observatory), San Fernando, Spain
Standards and Calibration Laboratory, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Standards Productivity and Innovation Board, Singapore
Slovensky metrologicky Ustav (Slovak Institute of Metrology), Bratislava, Slovakia
[name and location uncertain, probably Sistema Nazionale di Taratura, Italy]
[name missing], Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Sveriges Provnings- och Forskningsinstitut (Swedish National Testing and Research Institute), Boras, Sweden
[name and location missing] ([possibly renamed to SNT in 1991])
Institute of Metrology for Time and Space (IMVP), NPO "VNIIFTRI" Mendeleevo, Moscow Region, Russia
[name and location uncertain, probably Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan] ([possibly succeeded by NAOT in 1992])
Transportable Integrated Geodetic Observatory (TIGO), Concepcion, Chile
Telecommunication Laboratories, Chung-Li, Taiwan
Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
Technischen Universitat Graz (Technical University of Graz), Graz, Austria
Ulusai Metroloji Enstitusu (National Metrology Institute), Marmara Research Centre, Gebze Kocaeli, Turkey
United States Naval Observatory, Washington D.C., United States of America
Nederlands Meetinstituut Van Swinden Laboratorium, Delft, Netherlands
[no information available]
[no information available]
Zavod za mere i dragocene metale (Bureau of Measures and Precious Metals), Belgrade, Serbia
Some information is missing from the above list. If you can fill in any of the blanks, please mail <zefram@fysh.org>.
This document is derived from the BIPM-maintained abbreviation list at ftp://ftp2.bipm.fr/pub/tai/publication/acronyms.txt. Andrew Main (Zefram) <zefram@fysh.org> added information on historical abbreviations, and made the presentation more consistent.
It is questionable whether this document is copyrightable, due to its essentially functional nature as a collection of raw data. To the extent that the BIPM holds copyright on the file that this is based on, reproducing certain aspects of it here is probably fair use. Andrew Main does not claim copyright on any part of this document, and hereby places into the public domain any copyrightable aspect of it over which he would otherwise hold the copyright.
