GPS World

Tag: networks

  • Orolia and Hoptroff partner on traceable timing to protect networks

    Orolia and Hoptroff partner on traceable timing to protect networks

    Hoptroff’s Traceable Time as a Service to become an option for Orolia’s product portfolio; webinar scheduled for Dec. 15

    Orolia and timing solutions provider Hoptroff are partnering to deliver a service combining Orolia’s resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) solutions with Hoptroff’s timing synchronization software.

    The collaboration will offer Hoptroff’s Traceable Time as a Service (TTaaS) as an add-on to Orolia’s suite of products, providing precise and verifiable time to customers in enterprise, financial, telecom, utilities, public safety, and other markets where traceable time is critical.

    Webinar scheduled

    Orolia and Hoptroff will host a joint webinar to discuss the partnership and new resiliency options for customers on Dec. 15 at 12 p.m. EST. Register here.

    Hoptroff’s TTaaS offers an additional level of security and precision to meet stringent regulatory and resilient infrastructure requirements by delivering accurate time over the network using a VPN connection over broadband or fiber networks.

    The bundled solution will simplify the challenge of getting accurate, traceable time in applications where GNSS access is not available or dependable. It can also serve as an accurate, reliable backup to GNSS to provide a high level of resiliency to timing systems being used in critical infrastructure.

    “As industries evolve and computer applications become more complex and widely distributed, it is essential that devices in a distributed process share the same accurate timescale to reconstruct digital events after the fact,” said Tim Richards, COO at Hoptroff. “Network-based traceable timing, such as TTaaS, provides resilient backup to a GNSS installation in the case of signal disruption, monitors the quality of performance of time servers, and keeps a record of this timing quality at a location of the customer’s choice. Our partnership with Orolia means businesses will now be able to back up and monitor physical time servers and virtual servers in the cloud, so that they can be sure they share the same accurate timescale, and they have the records to prove it.”

    “The partnership with Hoptroff aligns with Orolia’s resilient PNT strategy by providing a wireline solution to augment its space-based PNT solutions. This allows us to further simplify the challenge customers face when building a highly resilient timing solution,” said Jeremy Onyan, Orolia’s director of time sensitive networks. “By combining Orolia’s anti-jamming and anti-spoofing solutions, high-performance GNSS-based timing products, alternative signals like STL, a local high-quality oscillator, and now a wireline-based TTaaS we have one of the most robust portfolios of resilient PNT solutions in the market. Additionally, with the recent acquisition of Seven Solutions, we are well positioned to extend our capabilities into high-accuracy time distribution.”

    Seven Solutions is a global innovator in White Rabbit sub-nanosecond time transfer and synchronization technology. “With the capability to distribute time with little to no accuracy loss, Orolia’s customers using Hoptroff’s TTaaS or other time references such as GNSS can extend that time to other parts of their networks and create a high level of resiliency against potential outages,” Onyan added.

    Image: Panuwat Sikham/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Image: Panuwat Sikham/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
  • ADVA launches edge and access clocks for 5G network timing

    ADVA launches edge and access clocks for 5G network timing

    Photo: ADVA
    Photo: ADVA

    ADVA has launched a set of edge and access network synchronization devices with enhanced capabilities for next-generation applications such as 5G. These latest Oscilloquartz solutions address key challenges for a wide range of industries by bringing new levels of timing accuracy and resilience to edge networks.

    The OSA 5412 and 5422 offer precise phase, frequency and time-of-day synchronization and can be used for time-as-a-service applications. Communication service providers, enterprises, broadcast networks and power utilities can deploy synchronization technology at the edge that features multi-band for nanosecond accuracy.

    The OSA 5412 and 5422 utilize in-service sync probing and assurance as well as innovative GNSS assurance capabilities. The products also provide support for eight field-upgradeable 10Gbit/s ports, ensuring the scale and efficiency needed for next-generation smart grids, industrial IoT applications and 5G connectivity.

    The OSA 5412 is a highly flexible access network synchronization solution that offers compact and cost-effective timing distribution and assurance. The OSA 5422 is engineered for the most extreme conditions. It meets stringent frequency and phase synchronization requirements, delivers the best holdover performance of any edge device on the market, and supports multiple legacy interfaces such BITS and IRIG.

    Both solutions address new ITU-T specifications, including for class A and B PRTCs, ePRTCs with strict holdover requirements, and the newly improved class C and D boundary clocks. They also feature onboard multi-band, multi-constellation GNSS receivers that overcome ionospheric delay variation far more cost-efficiently than rival solutions using high-end rubidium oscillators.

    The OSA 5412 and 5422 support multiple PTP profiles, NTP and SyncE with a high number of 1/10GbE ports. Both devices are engineered with optional OLED display and with hot-swappable modules and power supplies to be easily upgraded in the field.

    “Our latest solutions build on the great success we’ve had with our access synchronization product line. Now operators can harness the power of multi-band GNSS receivers to deliver highly accurate, UTC-traceable timing at the network edge. That enables the availability and precision that will be essential for tomorrow’s services,” said Nir Laufer, senior director, product line management, Oscilloquartz, ADVA.

    “By extending the feature set of our edge technology, we’re empowering CSPs to smoothly transition to the reliability and accuracy required for 5G and, at the same time, enabling our unique innovation to be used across a wide range of verticals,” Laufer said. “With support for 10Gbit/s and 1Gbit/s interfaces as well as hardware timestamping, our access timing products are the ultimate in future-proof, space-efficient synchronization.”

    “Access grandmaster clocks need to meet stricter demands for accuracy and reliability than ever before, and many industries have their own specific set of stringent timing requirements. That’s why we’ve evolved our portfolio of edge and access network synchronization solutions for the specific challenges of the 5G era,” said Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz, ADVA.

    “Our OSA 5412 and 5422 answer the most urgent timing needs of mission-critical infrastructure in multiple verticals,” Biran said. “They provide nanosecond precision, an abundance of fan-out interface options and operational simplicity thanks to the management and monitoring capabilities of our Ensemble Controller with Sync Director. Operators of broadcast, healthcare, financial networks and more now have a straightforward and affordable path from legacy to next-generation timing.”

    More information on the OSA 5412 and 5422 is available in these slides.

  • Microsemi’s BlueSky GPS Firewall protects critical infrastructure

    Microsemi’s BlueSky GPS Firewall protects critical infrastructure

    Microsemi Corporation, a provider of semiconductor solutions, today announced its new approach to protecting critical infrastructure against GPS spoofing and jamming threats.

    The BlueSky GPS Firewall is designed to provide security protection for GPS-delivered position, navigation and timing (PNT) data. It can be deployed in-line between any standard GPS antenna and stationary GPS receiver to provide protection against GPS signal incidents, both intentional or accidental, before they enter a GPS receiver system.

    Microsemi is making BlueSky GPS Firewall Evaluation kits available in advance of its full production release, both in response to the growing number of GPS incidents and their potential threat to critical infrastructure, and to assist customers in rapid adoption.

    BlueSky GPS Firewall filters the GPS signal in real time, removing anomalies before the signal is consumed by the downstream GPS receiver. This creates an intelligent and secure barrier against jamming and spoofing, and prevents the GPS receiver from being impacted by such incidents.

    Deployment of the BlueSky GPS Firewall does not require any new cabling or alteration of the pre-existing antenna installation and is interoperable with standard GPS receivers. Additionally, the BlueSky GPS Firewall incorporates an Ethernet interface for remote management and monitoring and includes a secure web interface that any browser can use for configuration and set-up of the device.

    The BlueSky GPS Firewall includes a broad range of data validation rules based on real, live-sky GPS threats, both intentional and unintentional. Similar to network security threats, new GPS vulnerabilities are on the rise and Microsemi is continuously tracking GPS signal manipulation including spoofing threats, jamming attacks, multipath signal interference, atmospheric activity and many other issues that can create GPS signal anomalies, disruptions and outages.

    These advancements are incorporated into the software platform of the BlueSky GPS Firewall, which can be updated remotely using Microsemi’s TimePictra management system.

    GPS Dependency

    The dependency on PNT is increasingly important to critical infrastructure sectors such as telecommunications, energy, transportation, emergency services, financial services and enterprise infrastructure, and is mainly provided through GPS.

    “Worldwide critical infrastructure dependency on unprotected GPS receivers is a serious security risk. These receivers are susceptible to jamming and spoofing incidents and the industry recognizes this as an increasing threat,” said Randy Brudzinski, vice president and business unit manager of Microsemi’s Frequency and Time division. “The vast number of GPS systems already in operation means a significant investment would be required if every system was to be replaced. Microsemi’s BlueSky GPS Firewall is a cost-effective and easy-to-deploy solution to protect GPS without requiring replacement of deployed GPS systems.”

    Published best-practice documents by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) describe steps that can be taken to mitigate outages and disruptions with GPS reception. In alignment with these documents, Microsemi’s new BlueSky GPS Firewall provides critical infrastructure sectors with a first line of defense against GPS threats to help build out a secure, robust and resilient PNT platform for their infrastructures.

    According to the 2017 GNSS Market Report, Issue 5, by the European GNSS Agency, professional market segments such as maritime, rail, telecom/utility/enterprise, surveying, aviation, agriculture and drones which use GNSS devices to operate their infrastructures, enable billions of people globally to benefit from them on a day-to-day basis—whether by enjoying the produce of sustainable and cost-effective agriculture, by using efficiently coordinated transport networks, or by leveraging on GNSS-synchronized telecommunications networks. The total installed base of GNSS devices in these professional segments was estimated at 14.4 million units in 2015 and is expected to grow to 97.8 million units by 2025.