Rubidium Frequency Standards (RFS), often termed Atomic Clocks, provide tunable sinusoidal signals and pulses with stability better than 1ppb. These units have applications for the small lab and tech-shack as calibrators and reference sources, clocks and for lab experiments. Perhaps even better, the RFS units can be found on the surplus market at prices less than the price of some oven controlled crystal oscillators.
Introduction to the Rubidium Frequency Standard using the FE5650A primarily focuses on the do-it-yourselfer by providing circuits, software source code and operational details required to bring the early versions of the FEI FE-5650A RFS unit to life. The book delivers example construction and modification details based on a variety of online sources. Initial chapters discuss the physics package in terms of the hyperfine energy levels, the optical pumping and filtering mechanisms, the phase sensitive detection methods for disciplining the crystal oscillator, the frequency synthesizer and then finishes with a careful introductory discussion of the Allan Deviation. The book provides source code for Windows demo-grade software to illustrate the Allan Deviation and animate a pc RFS controller, and also C/C++ source code for a Microchip-Atmel ATMEGA328P external controller (including circuit diagrams and parts list).
The download package includes (1) installable windows software corresponding to the provided source code and (2) the Atmel Studio files for programming your own ATMEGA328P microcontroller.
Please see the sample pages linked below (PDF) and picture for more information prior to downloading. We cannot handle download concerns and questions at this time.
The book (ISBN 978-1-7350986-0-9) and software can be downloaded as a ZIP or RAR compressed file (approx. 27MB). You will need a ZIP or RAR utility to access the book and software. For reference, the applicable FE5650A Opt 58 unit appears in the picture. Frequency Electronics Inc (FEI) produced several different versions depending on the manufacture year. The picture (click on it for larger view) shows the DDS board for the version modified and tested in the book.
Free-of-charge copies without software files can be downloaded from PDFdrive.com by clicking here or here.
or including the free software files from dropbox using the following two links for ZIP or RAR files.
Click here for ZIP
Click here for RAR
Sample pages
Contents And Preface
Ch02 Pg 10,17 Physics Pkg
Ch04 Pg 51 Allan Dev
Ch05 Pg 81 Initial Setup
Ch06 Pg 90 Serial Port
Ch07 Pg 105 Modifications
Ch08 Pg 117 Error Calcs
Ch09 Pg 129 Calibration
Ch10 Pg 144,164 Extrnl Ctrl
App03 Pg 203 Beats
App07 Pg 279 MVS AllanDev
Legal Limitations
The demo-grade (alpha version) software and code are provided as a courtesy to the reader. They are intended for those readers with a moderate proficiency with C#/VB/C programming. The software has not been fully tested under all conditions on all machines for all purposes. The same should be understood for the C/C++ code and programs.
In no event shall either the author or Angstrom Logic, LLC (hereafter collectively denoted by ALL) be liable to any party for direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages including lost profits, arising out of the use of the software/firmware/code and its documentation, even if ALL has been advised of the possibility of such damage.
ALL specifically disclaims any warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The software and accompanying documentation, if any, provided hereunder is provided "As Is". ALL has no obligation to provide maintenance, support, updates, enhancements, or modifications.