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http://futureofutc.org/

A Colloquium Exploring Implications of Redefining UTC in Astrodynamics,
Astronomy, Geodesy, Navigation, Remote Sensing and Related Fields to be held
at the Headquarters of Analytical Graphics, Inc., Exton, PA, October 5-6,
2011

Universal Time - the conventional measure of Earth rotation and astronomical
time-of-day - is the traditional basis for civil timekeeping worldwide.
Since 1972, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) has remained a broadcast
convention for labeling uniform atomic seconds so that civil clocks remain
synchronized with Universal Time of day to better than one second. Because
UTC began with radio broadcasts, its prescription has been maintained by the
Radiocommunications Sector of the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU-R).

A conclusive proposal to fundamentally redefine UTC is scheduled for a vote
by the Radiocommunications Assembly of the ITU-R in January, 2012. The
proposal will halt the contribution of so-called leap seconds to UTC after
2017, and will also terminate the requirement that time services transmit
the difference between UT1 and UTC. If approved, UTC would no longer be
useful as a type of Universal Time for most technical applications.

Many software and hardware systems needing to know how the Earth is oriented
with respect to the sky rely on UTC for this purpose. Should UTC be
redefined, significant consequences may be anticipated for applications and
infrastructures across various fields. Applications that do not apply
so-called Earth Orientation Parameters and/or DUT1 corrections to UTC would
be most affected.

Sessions will cover diverse topics of pragmatic timekeeping in a possibly
changing world.

For additional information, email: info(AT)futureofutc.org.

--
GregR

   

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