Besides the techniques currently used for clock comparisons in the calculation of TAI, studies are carried out to investigate the advantages of using data obtained from geodetic-type GPS receivers for the time links.

Improved data from commercial clocks, and the prospect of much more accurate primary standards using trapped or cooled atoms or ions, is leading the BIPM to determine how future versions of TAI can be made even more accurate.

These studies will lead to new algorithms for computating the scale, optimization of the use of data from novel primary standards, and increased accuracy in the application of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Other studies may lead to a means of interpreting data from millisecond pulsars so as to provide a time scale with outstanding stability in the very long term.