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Galileo, l'épidémie mystérieuse continue de se propager dans les horloges atomiques

Selon nos informations, il y aurait une vingtaine d'horloges atomiques frappée par une "épidémie", qui reste mystérieuse. Dix d'entre elles seraient déjà hors service.

"C'est une question sensible" car les horloges atomiques sont des éléments "très importants" pour le bon fonctionnement du système de navigation par satellites, concurrent du GPS américain, avait précisé en janvier le directeur général de l'ESA, Jan Woerner.

Les assurances renouvelées de l'ESA, chargée de la maîtrise d'ouvrage du système de navigation par satellites européen, ont d'ailleurs fini par convaincre l'Union européenne, qui avait été pourtant très inquiète et agacée par ces problèmes, de procéder à un nouveau lancement dès cette année de quatre satellites de la constellation européenne à bord d'Ariane 5. Ce qui fera au total 22 satellites mis en orbite par Arianespace. Tous les satellites dont les horloges sont touchées par cette épidémie, sont fonctionnels, assure-t-on à La Tribune. "Politiquement, c'est important pour l'Europe de lancer d'ici à la fin de l'année", explique-t-on. Un lancement est visé par l'ESA pour décembre.

L'ESA recommande OHB pour la dernière tranche

En dépit des problèmes des horloges atomiques, la commission européenne, sur l'insistance de l'ESA, a renouvelé sa confiance à OHB-System en signant à l'occasion du salon du Bourget le contrat portant sur la dernière tranche de la constellation Galileo. Soit huit satellites pour 324 millions d'euros. Sans surprise, l'Agence spatiale européenne (ESA), sous influence allemande (?), avait sélectionné fin avril le fabricant allemand pour cette nouvelle commande alors même que le problème des horloges n'était pas réglé. Est-ce l'horloge fabriquée par le groupe Orolia, qui est défaillante, ou l'environnement du satellite qui provoquerait cette panne? En tout cas, les horloges défaillantes l'ont été après une utilisation intensive pour des tests, explique-t-on à La Tribune. Pour préserver les autres, l'ESA les utilise le moins possible...

"Cela va permettre de compléter la constellation Galileo et d'avoir des satellites en réserve à la fois en orbite et au sol", avait souligné Paul Verhoef, directeur du programme Galileo à l'ESA, cité dans un communiqué.

Trois constructeurs étaient à la lutte pour un appel d'offres lancé au printemps par la Commission pour la construction de huit nouveaux satellites. OHB-System a déjà remporté trois compétitions pour la construction des 22 premiers satellites de Galileo en configuration opérationnelle (FOC, Full operational capability). Le groupe allemand OHB, qui a gagné en 2010 puis en 2012 les deux premiers appels d'offres des satellites FOC (14 et 8), avait été choisi par deux fois à la surprise générale face à Airbus. La question de la double source s'était déjà posée en 2012.

Quatre horloges à bord d'un satellite Galileo

Les satellites de la constellation Galileo embarquent deux types d'horloges : des masers à hydrogène passif et des horloges atomiques au rubidium. Plus précisément, chacun d'entre eux sera équipé de deux masers à hydrogène dont l'un sert de référence principale pour la génération des signaux de navigation tandis que le second sera utilisé en redondance passive. Ce type d'horloge assure une précision de l'ordre de la nanoseconde (soit un milliardième de seconde) par 24 heures. Ce qui équivaut à perdre ou gagner une seconde tous les 2,7 millions d'années, selon l'ESA. "Cela signifie donc que les horloges masers à hydrogène passif de Galileo seront environ un milliard de fois plus précises qu'une montre classique", explique l'Agence spatiale européenne.

Chaque satellite opérationnel emporte également deux horloges au rubidium. La première, utilisée en redondance active (ce qui signifie qu'elle fonctionne en permanence) prend immédiatement la relève du maser à hydrogène en cas de panne. Ce qui permet d'éviter toute interruption dans la génération du signal. La seconde horloge au rubidium sera utilisée en redondance passive. Les horloges au rubidium fournissent quant à elles, une précision de 10 nanosecondes par jour. À titre de comparaison, un bracelet-montre numérique ordinaire présente une précision d'environ une seconde par jour.

(1) Apple will roll out three iPhone models in 2H17, including an all-new design 5.2” (or 5.8” depending on the definition of screen size in use) OLED iPhone & LCD models including 4.7” & 5.5” (front form factor deisgn similar to current ones).

(2) OLED iPhone will adopt full-screen design, with the highest screen-to-body ratio of any smartphone currently available worldwide (thanks to a notch display design); the OLED model will also come with a virtual Home button, though the button will not support fingerprint recognition. "We predict the OLED model won’t support fingerprint recognition, reasons being: (1) the full-screen design doesn’t work with existing capacitive fingerprint recognition, and (2) the scan-through ability of the under-display fingerprint solution still has technical challenges, including: (i) requirement for a more complex panel pixel design; (ii) disappointing scan-through of OLED panel despite it being thinner than LCD panel; and (iii) weakened scan-through performance due to overlayered panel module. As the new OLED iPhone won’t support under-display fingerprint recognition, we now do not expect production ramp-up will be delayed again (we previously projected the ramp-up would be postponed to late October or later)."

(3) OLED iPhone will support 3D sensing for facial recognition & improved selfie quality.

(4) OLED iPhone & 5.5” LCD iPhone will both come with DRAM capacity of 3GB (for dual-camera requirements), while 4.7” version will only use 2GB DRAM (for only single camera).

(5) Three new models will all come with 64GB and 256GB storage options.

(6) All three new models will have a Lightning port; however, there will be an embedded USB-C power delivery IC for higher charging efficiency.

(7) The output power of the receiver & speaker of OLED iPhone will be more consistent to create better stereo effects.

(8) To maintain its boutique image, we think the OLED version will offer fewer options for casing colors than LCD iPhone models.

(9) We predict October-November & August-September as production ramp-up schedules of OLED iPhone & LCD iPhone, respectively. "For optimized promotional effect, we think Apple may unveil the three models simultaneously in September, though the launch date of the OLED version may trail that of LCD models, and supply tightness may not improve before 1H18."

(10) We forecast shipments of the three new models in 2017F will be 80-85mn units, with an equal split between OLED & LCD versions.

KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo has sent out a new report with his top predictions for the 2017 iPhone lineup: two iterative updates to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, as well as the all-new OLED iPhone 8. The analyst believes that the iPhone 8 will feature the highest screen-to-body ratio of any phone on the market, thanks to the addition of the ‘notch’ at the top of the screen and a virtual home button.

However, KGI dampens spirits by stating that the virtual home button will not support fingerprint recognition, and that the OLED iPhone will not include a Touch ID sensor of any kind …

The OLED iPhone will have a 5.8-inch display (KGI reiterates claims that the usable screen area will be around 5.2-inches after accounting for the ‘function area’). As reported before, the smaller bezels will mean the overall phone is of a similar size to the current 4.7-inch iPhone 7.

The two LCD phones will have standard 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, with the front face resembling the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Whereas the iPhone 8 chassis will be made of stainless steel and glass, it is believed the ‘iPhone 7s’ devices will have glass backs and an aluminium frame.

All three phones will include support for wireless charging (‘WPC standard’) but the actual charging ‘pad’ (for lack of a better word) will be an additional purchase.

KGI’s exact wording around the fingerprint sensor situation is a bit ambiguous. The analyst indicates that the virtual Home Button — drawn on the OLED screen — will not support a fingerprint sensor (rebutting recent reports from the supply chain) under the display panel.

In fact, Kuo goes further and say that there will be no fingerprint recognition capability on the iPhone 8 of any kind; it seems like Apple is removing Touch ID entirely in favour of facial recognition.

We predict the OLED model won’t support fingerprint recognition, reasons being: (1) the full-screen design doesn’t work with existing capacitive fingerprint recognition, and (2) the scan-through ability of the under-display fingerprint solution still has technical challenges

Kuo said that the under-display fingerprint scanner faced many technical issues which prevented Apple from committing to the technology. We have seen speculation that Apple might put the Touch ID on the rear or in the power button, but today’s KGI report is pretty definitive in their view that the iPhone 8 will not include a fingerprint sensor anywhere on the phone.

The front camera system on the iPhone 8 will support 3D depth sensing, enabling facial recognition authentication and ‘improved’ selfies. Internally, the OLED iPhone and the 5.5-inch iPhone ‘7s Plus’ will include 3 GB RAM whilst the new 4.7-inch phone will continue to pack 2 GB RAM.

As another enhancement for the OLED iPhone, Apple will apparently improve the consistency of the speaker and the receiver to create more balanced stereo sounds. KGI also thinks that the OLED iPhone 8 will be offered in fewer colors than the normal iPhone lineup to maintain a ’boutique’ branding.

KGI suggests that all three new iPhones will come in 64 GB and 256 GB storage options, corroborating other claims, and all three will rely on Lightning for power although there will be an embedded USB-C power deliver circuit for faster charging speeds. This is something KGI first reported in March. Apple will continue to ship a USB-A to Lightning cable in the box, rather than jump to a USB-C adapter solution.

In terms of availability, KGI believes that Apple will announce all three new iPhone models at a September event but the all-new-design OLED iPhone may launch later than the iterative LCD phones. Kuo expects supply for the iPhone 8 to be constrained well into 2018.

"There are excellent opportunities to unlock value from the many high quality businesses that currently comprise Clariant," a spokesman for White Tale, the vehicle Corvex and Standard Industries created to take the Clariant stake, said on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, we do not believe that the proposed merger with the Huntsman Corporation is one of those options."

In their merger pact announced in May, Huntsman and Clariant said the combination would be 52 percent owned by Clariant shareholders and valued at around $20 billion including debt.

Keith Meister and two other US activist investors have bought a stake in the Swiss chemicals group Clariant in the hope of derailing its $20bn merger with US rival Huntsman Corporation.

Mr Meister’s fund Corvex Management as well as 40 North, which is run by David Winter and David Millstone, have amassed the stake, according to a Swiss regulatory filing published on Tuesday morning.

The two said in a joint statement that they had built up a 7.2 per cent stake.

The Clairiant-Huntsman proposed deal is the latest of several in the fast-changing chemicals industry, where companies are striking ever more aggressive transactions to slash costs and gain greater scale. The deal would establish a company with a combined enterprise value of $20bn and Clariant investors would own 52 per cent of the new group, with Huntsman shareholders having the rest.

But the activists said they thought “the proposed merger significantly undervalues Clariant’s shares and that far more value could be created for shareholders through any number of alternative transactions”.

The deal had “no strategic rationale and is in fact a complete reversal of the company’s longstanding strategy of becoming a pure play specialty chemicals company”.

Keith Meister and two other US activist investors have bought a stake in the Swiss chemicals group Clariant in the hope of derailing its $20bn merger with US rival Huntsman Corporation.

Mr Meister’s fund Corvex Management as well as 40 North, which is run by David Winter and David Millstone, have amassed the stake, according to a Swiss regulatory filing published on Tuesday morning.

The two said in a joint statement that they had built up a 7.2 per cent stake.

The Clairiant-Huntsman proposed deal is the latest of several in the fast-changing chemicals industry, where companies are striking ever more aggressive transactions to slash costs and gain greater scale. The deal would establish a company with a combined enterprise value of $20bn and Clariant investors would own 52 per cent of the new group, with Huntsman shareholders having the rest.

But the activists said they thought “the proposed merger significantly undervalues Clariant’s shares and that far more value could be created for shareholders through any number of alternative transactions”.

The deal had “no strategic rationale and is in fact a complete reversal of the company’s longstanding strategy of becoming a pure play specialty chemicals company”.