The Northern Light

Media Credit: Photo courtesty of Primex [Click to enlarge]

In the fall semester of 2005, UAA student Luke Thomas found himself mysteriously losing five minutes of his day every time he walked from the Fine Arts Building on the east side of campus to the Professional Studies Building on the opposite side.

"Every time I showed up for class in the K Building, I was five minutes late," Thomas said.

After talking to other students and friends of his, Thomas - who at the time was a USUAA senator - realized he wasn't the only one falling victim to an out-of-sync clock system.

Shortly thereafter on Dec. 9, 2005, Thomas sponsored a resolution to support the synchronizing of clocks on campus.

The clocks resolution was met with some resistance by members of USUAA who felt, as student representatives, they had more important things to do than wind clocks. The resolution was approved, however, and delivered to Facility Services, who were directed to implement a process for periodic synchronization of all clocks at the UAA campus.

Now, 10 months later, the voice of the student body has been heard.

Supervisor of Building Maintenance Jody Inman was put in charge of finding a solution. He learned that Providence Alaska Medical Center used a system of synchronized clocks from a company called Primex, which synchronize through a wireless global positioning system. After speaking with maintenance members at Providence Hospital, Inman decided the Primex clocks could perform for UAA as well.

The clock systems are composed of three components. First a receiver updates itself via satellite with the NIST-F1, an atomic clock in Boulder, Colo. A transmitter then relays the time from the receiver to the clocks, which update themselves. The Primex clocks synchronize automatically six times per day.

Christopher Turletes, director of Facilities Maintenance, said that the Primex clock infrastructure, including a one-watt receiver and transmitter for the University Center, two GPS receivers and two five-watt transmitters - one each for the east and west campus areas - and 72 clocks were purchased for about $25,000.

"The 72 clocks were installed in centrally scheduled classrooms and public areas on campus," Turletes said. The rooms that were determined to receive the new clocks are rooms shared by all departments, such as the larger lecture halls and auditoriums. They can be found in places like the University Center kiosk, the front desk of the commons, the UPD dispatch office, and the administration conference room.

"We can add an unlimited amount of additional clocks to the infrastructure as long as they receive the signal from one of our transmitters," Turletes said.

There are still some locations the clocks will be installed; however, additional clocks will be added as requested by staff and departments, but will need to be funded by those departments.

"We intend to add a clock system to Aviation and possibly install digital clocks in the shuttle busses," Turletes said. "The bookstore is considering purchasing clocks for resale to staff and students."

Standard wireless battery-operated clocks will cost about $150 installed.

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