UTStarcom has launched the SyncRing XGM30E precision time protocol (PTP) grandmaster. The SyncRing XGM30E is designed for mobile networks and other applications requiring accurate time and frequency synchronization. It is an addition to the company’s SyncRing line of network synchronization equipment.
The SyncRing XGM30E is an indoor PTP grandmaster offering echo time accuracy of more than ±40 ns, which can meet the stringent timing requirements of demanding applications including 4G and 5G networks. The clock complies with the PTP IEEE 1588-2008 standard, supporting major ITU-T frequency and phase and time profiles.
SyncRing XGM30E supports synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) output on all service interfaces for accurate frequency synchronization, and SyncE input for enhanced time holdover operation during GNSS outages.
The grandmaster includes an indoor rack-mount design and power supply redundancy with AC or DC built-in options and has flexible management options. The SyncRing XGM30E is available now.
In October 2022, Curtiss-Wright Corporation’s Defense Solutions division, a supplier of modular open system approach-based solutions, released the VPX3-673A module. This module is the first to deliver assured position, navigation and timing (A-PNT) along with alternative RF navigation and pntOS architecture.
The VPX3-673A is a rugged, 3U OpenVPX, form factor module, which integrates with existing navigation sensors in vehicles operating in environments with limited or denied access to GPS, to increase assurance in the platform’s PNT solutions. It is designed to ingest positioning and timing data from multiple sensors and output accurate timing and navigation information on the battlefield using VICTORY data messages.
It is compatible with the United States Army’s C5ISR/EW Modular Open Suite of Standards and aligned with the Sensor Open Systems Architecture Technical Standard 1.0.
VPX3-673A includes a low noise chip-scale atomic clock with intelligence provided by Xilinx MPSoc, an alternative RF navigation receiver and a 10-degree of freedom IMU. It supports an internal or external GPS module via a front panel connector. Additionally, the VPX3-673A provides processing resources and sensor interface capabilities needed for operability with a variety of external processing and sensor units.
How the atom went from data’s worst enemy to its best friend
By David Chandler, product marketing manager, Frequency and Timing Systems business unit, Microchip Technology
GNSS constellations are precise timing systems. (Image: Microchip Technology)
Timing from atomic clocks is now an integral part of data-center operations. The atomic clock time transmitted via Global Position System (GPS) and other Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks is synchronizing servers across the globe, and atomic clocks are deployed in individual data centers to preserve synchronization when the transmitted time is not available.
This high level of synchronization is vital to ensure the zettabytes of data collected around the globe every year can be meaningfully stored and used in many applications, whether due to system requirements or to ensure regulatory compliance. The quantum nature of an atom enables the precision time and is a critical part of ensuring that more data at faster speeds will be processed in the future — ironic, as just a few years ago the quantum nature of the atom was seen as the ultimate death of this increase in data processing and speed.
In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted the transistor count on an integrated circuit would double every year. This was eventually revised to doubling every two years. Along with this increase in transistor density came an important increase in speed as well as decreases in cost and power consumption.
It may have been hard in 1965 to imagine there would be any real-world need to have a semiconductor with 50 billion transistors on it in 2021, but as semiconductor technologies kept up with the law, so did application demands. Cell phones, financial trading and DNA mapping are all applications that rely heavily on the number of operations per second a microprocessor can execute, which is closely tied to the transistor count on a chip.
Satirical image of an engineer trying to keep up with Moore’s Law. (Image: Microchip Technology)
The Demise of Moore’s Law
Unfortunately, Moore’s Law is rapidly coming to an end due to a limit imposed by physics. With wafer fabrication now in the sub-10-nm technology nodes, the transistor sizes are only about 10 to 50 times that of a silicon atom. At this scale, the size and quantum properties of atoms and free electrons significantly prohibit further size reduction. In essence, you could think of the atom as the ultimate court that struck down the law.
But while Moore’s Law will come to an end, the thirst for increased processing power will continue to grow. With the advent of the internet of things (IoT), streaming services, social media posts and autonomous self-driving cars, the amount of data generated every day continues to increase exponentially.
In 2021, every day an estimated 2.5 exabytes (2,882,303,761,517,120,000 bytes) was generated. Exabyte databases managing more than 100,000 transactions per second (a transaction consists of multiple operations) are currently in use, and the size of the databases and the transactions per second will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.
Synchronizing the Machines
This explosive growth in the volume of data — coupled with the speed at which the data must be written, read, copied, analyzed, manipulated and backed up — required data-center architects to find a way around the end of Moore’s Law. The architects employed horizontal scaling in a data center with distributed databases, where instead of an entire database residing on one server, the database is distributed over multiple servers in a cluster.
In this configuration, the cluster essentially functions as one giant machine, hence the size and speed of the system now becomes limited by the physical size of a data center rather than by the size of an atom. (Take that, atom!)
Software engineers now make careers writing code that enables horizontal scaling. For all the software to work, however, all the machines must be synchronized. Otherwise it violates a concept called causality.
What is causality? It is easiest to explain through an example. Suppose you have two cameras to record images for a 100-meter dash, each with its own internal clock. The first camera is at the starting blocks. The second camera is at the finish line. Both sensors are continually firing and timestamping each image with the time from their respective clocks.
Clock uncertainty causes issues with causality. In this case, a race officially finished before it started. (Image: Microchip Technology)
To determine the official time of the winning sprinter in the race, the first camera’s images are reviewed for the point in time when the first runner left the block and this time-stamp is subtracted from the time-stamp on the last camera’s image for that runner crossing the finish line.
For this to work, both cameras must be synchronized to an acceptable level of uncertainty. If the synchronization of the clocks is only ±0.05 seconds, you would be unable to determine if someone who was recorded as running 9.6 seconds actually broke the world record of 9.58 seconds. What if they were only synchronized to ±5 seconds from the stadium clock?
Imagine this scenario: Observed from the main stadium clock, a race starts at exactly 12:00:00:00 p.m. The first runner crosses the finish line at 12:00:09:60 p.m. From the perspective of the main stadium clock, the official race time was 9.6 seconds.
But what if the first camera’s clock was exactly 5 seconds fast and the second camera’s clock was exactly 5 seconds slow? The race would officially start at 12:00:05:00 p.m and finish at 12:00:04:60 p.m. The race would officially finish 0.4 seconds before it started, the world record would be shattered, the laws of physics would be broken, and the current record holder would most likely be wrongfully dropped by all his sponsors.
Applying Causality to a Database
The same principle of causality is important in a database. Transactional record updates must appear in the database in the sequential order in which they occurred. If you count on the direct deposit of your paycheck arriving prior to having a direct withdrawal to pay your monthly mortgage, and the bank’s database did not record these in the correct sequence, you will be charged an overdraft fee. On one machine, causality errors are easy to prevent, but on multiple servers, each with its own internal clock, the servers must be synchronized and timestamp every transaction.
To achieve this, one server must act as a reference clock, much like the stadium clock, and it must distribute time to each server in a way that minimizes the time error of each server clock. The uncertainty of each timestamp (±5 seconds in the race) forms a time envelope that is twice the uncertainty of the clock (10 seconds for the race). For a distributed database, the number of nonoverlapping time-envelopes that can fit into a second should be at least on the order of the number of transactions per second expected for the system.
Probability, criticality of causality, and cost of implementation will ultimately all play a role in the final solution, but this relationship is a good starting point. A system with time-stamp uncertainties of ±1 millisecond would have time-envelopes of 2 milliseconds, and a maximum of 500 non-overlapping time-envelopes would fit in one second. This system could support approximately 500 transactions per second.
Where NTP and PTP Fall Short
Time-over-Ethernet technologies known as Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) are used to synchronize all the servers in a distributed database in a data center. These protocols can ensure a local area network can distribute time with sub-millisecond (NTP) or sub-microsecond (PTP) uncertainties, enabling thousands (NTP) or millions (PTP) of transactions per second.
Unfortunately, even with these solutions that enabled a detour around the atom-imposed demise of Moore’s Law, physics has thrown another roadblock in the path of distributed databases in the form of the speed of light.
Imagine a well-synchronized distributed database operating with PTP in San Jose, California, happily executing 100,000 transactions per second with no causality issues. One of the database architects is sitting in his office in New York and his boss asks him to update a large series of records.
The architect wants to be able to exploit his new database to its full extent and show off the system capabilities. He plans on executing 100,000 transactions per second.
To update records per the request, he creates a simple transaction that adds the value of one record to a second record only if the value of the first record is greater than the second record. To accomplish this, he must issue a read to both records. His local machine in New York will then compare the values, then send a write command to the second record when needed.
After completing this, he then wants to execute the next transaction that compares a third value to the new sum. If the new sum is greater than the third record, then the third record is replaced with the sum. He wants to repeat this for 6 million records. Because the database is capable of 100,000 transactions per second, he thinks it will be done in roughly a minute. He tells his boss he will have the records updated in five minutes, then leaves to get a cup of coffee.
While drinking his coffee, he reads a story about how the new 100-meter dash record is negative 0.4 seconds which defies the laws of physics, and that the previous record holder is suing the stadium officials because he has lost all his endorsement money. The architect laughs to himself and thinks that the stadium should have hired him as the synchronization expert.
He comes back to his desk five minutes later and is dismayed to see that his database update has completed fewer than 1,500 transactions. He sadly realizes his mistake and prepares his résumé to send it over to the stadium, where he hopes his PTP deployment won’t have the same problem.
What went wrong? The speed of light limits the theoretical fastest possible transmission of data between New York and San Jose to 13.7 milliseconds.
The speed of light imposes a theoretical limit to the speed at which data can be transferred between two points. (Image: Microchip Technology)
The Distance Problem
Unfortunately, real world transactions are even slower. Even with a dedicated fiber-optic link between the two locations, the refractive index of the fiber, the real-world path of the fiber and other system issues make this transit time even slower. So just one transmission from New York will take 40 to 50 milliseconds to arrive in San Jose.
However, in this transaction there are four unique operations. There are two read operations, which could happen in parallel, which then have to be sent back to New York. The round trip takes 80 to 100 milliseconds. Then, once both values are compared, a write operation is issued and a write acknowledgement must be sent back indicating the write operation completed before the next transaction can start.
Suddenly, it doesn’t matter that the database can perform 100,000 transaction per second, because the distance is limiting the system to 5 transactions per second. To complete the 6 million transactions, this system would take 13 days, more than enough time for several more cups of coffee and to update a résumé. This delay is referred to as communications latency.
Circumventing Latency
But just like with Moore’s Law, database architects figured out how to circumvent latency. Database replications are created near the users, so they can work with the data without having to send signals across the country.
Periodically, the replications are compared and reconciled to ensure consistency. During the reconciliation process, the transaction time-stamps are used to determine the actual sequence of transactions, and records are sometimes rolled back when there is an irreconcilable difference such as when the transaction time-envelopes overlap. Reducing clock uncertainty reduces the number of irreconcilable differences in replicated instances, as more time-envelopes reduce the probability of overlaps. This results in higher efficiencies and lower probabilities of data corruptions.
But now the timestamping has to be accurate not only within each data center, but also between the data centers, which can be separated by thousands of miles and connected via the cloud. This is a much more difficult task, as it requires an external reference with very low uncertainly that is readily available in both locations.
Down to the Atomic Level
Enter the previous foe of the database architect, the atom. While the atom was busy repealing Moore’s Law, its subatomic particles were busy spinning. The neutrons and protons in the nucleus were rotating, while at the same time the electrons were busy orbiting about the nucleus, while also spinning on their own axes. This is analogous to Earth orbiting around the sun while simultaneously spinning on its axis.
The electrons can spin around their axes clockwise or counterclockwise. Considering there are roughly 7 octillion (7 with 27 zeros after it) atoms in a human, with all the subatomic particles spinning in our bodies, it is amazing we aren’t permanently dizzy. (Note: The subatomic particles aren’t really busy spinning and orbiting, they are really busy giving us probability wave functions and magnetic interactions that would give us results similar to what would happen if they were spinning and orbiting. But if the thought of all the spinning makes you dizzy, trying to comprehend the reality of quantum mechanics will make you positively nauseous.)
Conceptual atoms with nucleus and valence electron with nuclear spin, electron spin and orbital spin. (Image: Microchip Technology)
When microwave radiation at a very specific precise frequency is absorbed by an electron, the direction of spin about the electron axis can be changed. If this happened to Earth, the Sun would suddenly set in the east and rise in the west!
Atomic clocks are machines designed to detect the state of the electron spin, and then change that direction through microwave radiation. The frequency varies depending on the element, the isotope, and the excitation state of the electrons.
Once the machine determines the frequency, known as the hyperfine transition frequency, the period can be determined as the inverse of the frequency, and the number of periods can be counted to determine the elapsed time. The international definition of the second is 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation required to induce the hyperfine transition of an electron in the outer orbital shell of a cesium atom.
Atomic clocks are the most stable commercially available clocks in the world. An atomic clock the size of a deck of cards called the chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC) will drift 1 millionth of a second in 24 hours, whereas an atomic clock the size of a refrigerator called a hydrogen maser will only drift 10 trillionths of a second in 24 hours. (Coincidentally, 10 trillionths is also about the ratio of the radius of the hydrogen atom to the height of the sprinters in the 100-meter dash and of the now-unemployed data-center architect in New York.)
With the accuracy provided by these atomic clocks, approximately 500,000 to ~50 billion non-overlapping time-envelopes can be provided for a distributed database running in data centers in Tokyo, London, New York, Timbuktu or anywhere else in the world.
The unit second is defined by counting 9,192,631,770 cycles of the cesium hyperfine transmission radiation frequency. (Image: Microchip Technology)
Time for Distribution
How does time get to all the data centers from these atomic clocks? Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) is a global time distributed by satellites, fiber optic networks, and even the internet. UTC itself is derived from a collection of high precision atomic clocks located in national laboratories and timing stations around the world. Contributors to UTC receive a report that provides the UTC time from these clocks and their individual offset from calculated UTC. The labs and other facilities then transmit the time to the world.
The UTC report is published monthly and tells the national labs their miniscule timing offset from UTC during the previous month. Technically, we don’t know precisely what time it was up until a month after the fact. And to make things worse, extra seconds are periodically added to UTC, called leap seconds, which are inserted due to variations in the Earth’s rotation and our relative position to observable stars. While this aligns Earth to the universe, it causes havoc in data centers and 100-meter dashes.
The hyperfine transition frequency produced in a hydrogen maser, 1.420405751 GHz, will cause spin reversal in an electron. (Image: Microchip Technology)
Enter GNSS
Two common methods used by data centers to acquire UTC are via the internet using publicly available NTP time servers and via satellite using GPS or other GNSS networks. While timing through public NTP timeservers over the internet was common during early deployment of distributed databases, inherent performance, traceability and security issues have created the push to move away from this solution.
Even though GPS and other GNSS are typically thought of as positioning and navigation systems, they really are precision timing systems. Position and time at a receiver are determined by the transit time of signals traveling at the speed of light from multiple satellites to the receiver. Ironically, this is another case of a physics principle causing a problem — in this case the speed of light instead of the atom — but also contributing to the solution.
The satellites have their own onboard atomic clocks, which are synchronized to UTC that was transmitted to the satellites from ground stations. Acquiring UTC with this method can provide time uncertainties in the 5-nanosecond range, enabling 100 million time-envelopes per second.
This method is far more reliable and accurate than public NTP servers, and while these signals can be interrupted by such events as solar storms or intentional signal jamming, backup clocks that have been synchronized to the satellite signals when present can be placed in each individual data center to provide the desired uncertainty levels during these interruptions.
The evolution of database transaction rates and the enabling and disabling technologies. (Image: Microchip Technology)
Next Up: Jumping Electrons
As our quest to acquire, store and transact data in the future continues to grow, novel atomic-clock technologies and time transmission systems with lower uncertainties will be needed. Currently, national timing labs are developing atomic clocks that work on the optical transitions that occur when an electron jumps orbital shells. These offer frequency stabilities to a quintillionth of a Hertz and will eventually be used to redefine the unit second.
Signal transmission through dedicated fiber-optic links or airborne lasers are already yielding improved transmission accuracy. With these continued innovations data, the atom and light will continue their complex love-hate relationship to enable ever larger quantities of data processed at ever increasing rates without consistency issues or causality casualties.
TIM Brasil’s partnership with Microchip Technology provides the accuracy needed for high-performance network architectures, enabling more efficient data transmission
Now that it has implemented 5G coverage in all Brazilian state capitals, network operator TIM Brasil has enabled precision time protocol (PTP) in its commercial 5G service.
To accomplish this, TIM has partnered with Microchip Technology, supplier of the TimeProvider 4100 technology, which allows full compatibility and meets the stringent synchronization requirements of 5G mobile network standards.
PTP allows precise synchronization and times that can reach nanoseconds among cellular base stations, with security of the data transmitted, by encryption.
Signal synchronization is essential for a successful 5G consumer experience, ensuring better performance, including reduced latency, more accuracy and better transmission quality.
“The evolution of the 5G offer by the operator does not occur only in the expansion of coverage, but in the possibility of providing the evolution of the service to the consumer,” said Marco Di Costanzo, network director at TIM Brasil. “We want TIM customers to be able to enjoy 5G networks with the best possible experience.”
He added, “We are satisfied with the easiness of management and robustness of the new TimeProvider 4100, perceived during our extensive field trials, and we are confident this is a perfect match for the demanding requirements in our mobile deployments. It’s a robust synchronization platform, with high scalability, capacity and flexibility for future growth needs.”
Tests of the new technology were carried out after TIM’s implementation of 5G networks in Brazilian state capitals, and prove the evolution of the service already used by TIM in its partnership with Microchip for the last 10 years.
The application of the TimeProvider 4100 technology can have a positive impact on the reduction of latency time and can help improve the signal distribution in indoor networks.
“Our TimeProvider 4100 offers a robust solution with the flexibility to deploy in a wide range of environments accommodating standards required for mobile 5G implementations due to its impressive versatility,” said Randy Brudzinski, corporate vice president for Microchip’s Frequency & Time Systems business unit. “The device uniquely provides a 1588 grandmaster supporting these standards with the high-precision, accuracy and reliability requirements needed for leading mobile operators like TIM Brasil.”
Septentrio’s mosaic-T is built specifically for resilient and precise time and frequency synchronization under challenging conditions. (Photo: Septentrio)
Fugro has signed a tri-party cooperation agreement with GNSS receiver company Septentrio and synchronization equipment manufacturer Meinberg to launch the Fugro AtomiChron real-time synchronization and authentication service.
Numerous sectors rely on resilient and highly accurate time synchronization, including telecommunications, finance and energy. The timing technology eliminates time drift caused by clocks counting time at slightly different rates, and provides extreme stability that surpasses current precision frequency standards.
With up to sub-nanosecond accuracy, Fugro AtomiChron includes Navigation Message Authentication (NMA), ensuring reception of genuine GNSS signals and time synchronization improvements. Integrated anti-spoofing detection further prevents interference with GNSS timing signals providing accuracy, authentication, validity and security for end users.
The agreement ensures that the Fugro AtomiChron service will be available in new Septentrio mosaic-T GNSS receivers, as well as a selection of Meinberg GNSS clocks, without the need for additional physical interfaces or separate antennas.
“Septentrio is a forerunner in the area of robust and resilient GNSS solutions,” said Jan Van Hees, business development director at Septentrio. “With the addition of the unique Fugro AtomiChron service, we are pleased to further strengthen our offering and provide our customers even more accurate and reliable solutions for resilient GNSS timing.”
Chinese scientists say they have succeeded in an experiment that could improve satellite navigation and redefine the second as a unit of time, reports the South China Morning Post.
The scientists performed the experiment in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in western China. They placed two terminals in laboratories 113 km (70 miles) apart. Each terminal was equipped with a laser, a telescope and two optical frequency combs that measure exact frequencies of light. Laser pulses sent between the terminals allowed researchers to confirm the time.
The research team was led by quantum physicist Jian-Wei Pan at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).
Sending signals over long distances would enable a global network of optical clocks that can help improve the accuracy of satellite navigation services.
China also is sending three atomic clocks to its Tiangong space station to establish a space-based timekeeping system of exceptional accuracy. The clocks can work together to measure time with 10-19 stability, missing only one second every few billion years, and is expected to be thousands of times more accurate than a hydrogen maser.
New receiver provides a path to the security and performance benefits of dual-band technology
Photo: u-blox
U-blox has announced a new, compact dual-band timing module that offers nanosecond-level timing accuracy, thereby meeting the stringent timing requirements for 5G communications.
The new u-blox NEO-F10T is compliant with the u-blox NEO form factor (12.2 mm x 16 mm), allowing space-constrained designs to be realized without the need to compromise on size.
The NEO-F10T is the successor to the NEO-M8T module, providing an easy upgrade path to dual-band timing technology. This allows NEO-M8T users to access nanosecond-level timing accuracy and enhanced security.
U-blox’s dual-band technology mitigates ionospheric errors and greatly reduces timing error, without the need of an external GNSS correction service. Additionally, when within the operational area of a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), the NEO-F10T offers the possibility to improve the timing performance by using the ionospheric corrections provided by the SBAS system.
As the NEO-F10T supports all four global satellite constellations and L1/L5/E5a configuration, it significantly simplifies global deployments because the same device can be used universally.
NEO-F10T includes advanced security features such as secure boot, secure interfaces, configuration lock and T-RAIM to provide the highest-level timing integrity. This ensures that reliable, uninterrupted service is delivered as any attempt to interfere with the receiver is unlikely to be successful. Additionally, advanced anti-jamming and anti-spoofing algorithms are included to further enhance security.
The module has a single RF input for all the GNSS bands and dual SAW filters for exceptional signal selectivity and out-of-band attenuation. It is compatible with u-blox’s ANN-MB1 L1/L5 multi-band antenna, making it simple to evaluate the performance of the timing modules. The devices operate from a single 2.7 V to 3.6 V supply and draw just 19 mA (@ 3.0 V) during continuous operation.
“NEO-F10T is designed to meet the timing synchronization requirements in 5G small cells and private networks on a global scale. By significantly reducing the time error of cellular network synchronization, the NEO‑F10T module will help operators maximize the performance of their networks and so optimize the return on their investment in 5G communications,” said Samuli Pietila, Director Product Line Management, Timing and Infrastructure, at u-blox.
Femtocell cellular base stations used by Global Medical Response (GMR) in their Dallas, Texas, offices are receiving high-accuracy GPS location and timing signals from RF-over-fiber links from ViaLite Communications.
The GPS signals help GMR provide emergency quality medical care at a moment’s notice, primarily in the areas of emergency and patient relocation services in the United States and around the world.
The Local Integrated GPS Splitter. (Photo: ViaLite)
The highly reliable system consists of a ViaLite GPS Link that sends the GPS and timing signals from the rooftop antenna down an optical fiber to a Local Integrated GPS splitter situated in the building. The splitter then distributes the timing data to multiple femtocells.
“The efficiency of ViaLite’s signal distribution techniques is second to none, and in this emergency support application, when action at a moment’s notice can be vital, our equipment’s reliability and performance are crucial,” explained Craig Somach, ViaLite sales director.
A monitoring and control module is built into the GPS splitter. (Photo: ViaLite)
Use of the high-tech splitter, which features a built-in monitoring and control module, also eliminates the need to install multiple antennas on the rooftop, avoiding the appearance of an antenna farm.
“As a first-time customer, we found the deployment was as smooth and simple as ViaLite had promised,” said Dan Cottom, senior manager of communication systems at GMR. “The GPS distribution is working great.”
Furuno Electric Co. has released a new generation of time-synchronization GNSS receiver modules compatible with all GNSS systems. The modules deliver nanosecond precision for 5G mobile systems, radio communications systems, smart power grids and grand master clocks.
GNSS receivers for time synchronization are used extensively in critical infrastructure such as mobile base stations and RAN equipment, commercial and defense radio communications, broadcasting, financial trading and smart power grids, where there are increasing needs for robustness, reliability and security.
Furuno is releasing three new products: GT-100, GT-9001 and GT-90. They are designed to suit different applications based on the frequency bands and output signals supported. All models have the world’s highest level of time stability of 4.5 ns (1 sigma).
The GT-100 is the company’s first timing multi-GNSS receiver module supporting concurrent L1 and L5 reception. This mitigates the effects of solar flares, which can lead to time errors, and strengthens measures against GNSS vulnerabilities such as jamming and spoofing.
The GT-100 delivers three outputs including 1 pulse per second (1 PPS) synchronized with UTC as well as user-programmable frequencies. The outputs can be set as required to 10 MHz, 2.048 MHz and 19.2 MHz, commonly used in a variety of wireless communications systems. This drastically reduces the time from development to market launch for these systems, as well as cost savings through reduced component needs. GT-100 is a full-featured highly robust model, supporting dual-frequency band reception (L1 and L5).
GT-9001 supports L1 and delivers high stability 1PPS and programmable clocks on three channels.
GT-90 supports L1 and provides a 1 PPS high stability output.
All models are equipped with the leading Dynamic Satellite Selection (DSS) multipath mitigation technology developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) that minimizes degradation of time performance even when the antenna is installed in urban areas or near a window.
Furuno will showcase the new modules at EuMW’s European Microwave Exhibition, a trade and technology exhibition providing access to initiatives in the RF and microwave sector.
Evaluation kits for all three products are available now.
From left: Yusuf Kıraç, Türk Telekom chief technology officer, and Net Insight CEO Crister Fritzson. (Photo: Türk Telekom)
Türk Telekom is using specialized GPS/GNSS-independent technology to provide critical time and frequency synchronization in its 5G network.
The technology — developed by Türk Telekom engineers with Net Insight — is expected to significantly reduce synchronization investment costs and increase service continuity in 5G. The companies did not reveal the details of their technology.
Türk Telekom, the pioneer of digital transformation in Türkiye, continues its efforts to shape the future with 5G and new generation technologies. Türk Telekom became the first operator in the world to implement the “Time Synchronization Transmission Solution,” implemented in cooperation with Net Insight, one of the world’s leading technology companies, on its network. This solution, which is the patented technology developed by Türk Telekom and Net Insight, will provide strategic superiority in network technologies.
Minimum end-to-end deviation throughout Turkey
The testing process of the GPS/GNSS-independent stable synchronization service for 5G has been successfully completed. Türk Telekom, which has installed the system at 20 locations in Turkey, will have a central synchronization network with high time accuracy, and will be able to offer synchronization service to 5G base stations.
While the highest time deviation value for 5G is 1,500 nanoseconds, the deviation value was measured at 5–45 nanoseconds in two different regions of Türkiye, according to the first data obtained from the Türk Telekom live network. The values revealed that sensitive time and synchronization information can be carried from Edirne to Hakkari, the entire length of Türkiye, with minimum deviation regardless of network equipment.
Solution to increase efficiency and save resources
“We became the first operator to implement the next-generation synchronization solution, developed together with Net Insight and leveraging patents of Turkish engineers, which is critical for 5G and beyond technologies on the live network,” said Yusuf Kıraç, Türk Telekom chief technology officer. “We see a significant potential in the global market for this innovative solution that will reduce costs and increase service continuity for mobile operators and all industries with critical time synchronization requirements.
“We can meet all these needs with this solution, which has a time deviation far below 1,500 nanosecond required for the synchronization need of 5G,” Kıraç continued. “We are proud to develop new satellite-independent solutions for operators and standardization organizations in the world.”
“We believe that this solution, which is operated on the Türk Telekom network for the first time in the world, will break new ground in 5G and have a high and significant market potential on a global scale,” said Net Insight CEO Crister Fritzson.
Important step for 5G and beyond
The new-generation time synchronization solution, which is not depending on GPS/GNSS satellites, offers unique advantages for transmitting phase and time synchronization over the network without the need to replace or update existing network equipment. With this technology, a fundamental solution to GPS/GNSS satellites’ signal interruptions and service losses — one of the biggest needs of operators who have switched to 5G — will be met, the companies said.
At the same time, the synchronization needs of 6G technologies — planned to begin global standardization studies in 2025 — will be met with the same solution.
The patented technology will be produced and marketed all over the world and will provide solutions for sectors such as telecommunications, energy and finance.
By Nino De Falcis, Senior Director of Business Development, ADVA
Today’s critical network infrastructure is heavily reliant on positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services. Power grids, financial markets, transportation, data centers, communications — all have become more complex and interconnected, while the threats to the PNT on which they depend have grown in frequency and sophistication. PNT systems are so vulnerable to the activities of cybercriminals that attacks may soon become global in scale and significance, with potential costs of billions of dollars.
Utilities are a key example of infrastructure at risk. In the past, power networks were passive systems with everything simple and centralized, and with energy flowing in one direction only as AC power was provided to consumers. However, the growth in renewables and distributed energy resources has spurred diversification of the market, and a new paradigm of bidirectional AD and DC energy production and distribution has emerged: the smart grid.
Timing Challenges
Today, many smaller producers are generating power from multiple sources. The power grid has become a decentralized system and the flow of energy is now bidirectional. Energy from solar panels (microgrids), for example, can be generated by private individuals and either stored or fed back into the grid. Electric vehicles (EVs) are also becoming more common, and like all other nodes across the smart grid, charging points require precise timestamping of the massive amount of data they generate to balance power demand and supply.
Precise timing is also key to rerouting power flows away from transmission outages, to locating power line faults, and for synchronizing distributed control and protection systems. Without highly accurate timing and synchronization, power grids are vulnerable to partial outages and even complete blackouts.
That is why accuracy requirements of data timestamping are tighter than ever. In fact, they are shifting from legacy Network Timing Protocol (NTP) timestamping, which has millisecond accuracy needs, to Precision Timing Protocol (PTP) timestamping, requiring sub-microsecond accuracy. The syncrophaser now demands accuracy better than 1 microsecond.
For fault location, we’re now at 100 nanoseconds. The micro-phasor measurement unit (PMU) is at less than 1 microsecond and substation LAN communication protocols have to be time-stamped at as low as 100 microseconds for GOOSE IEC 61850 and at 1 microsecond for IEC 61850 sample values. This is a big change from just five years ago when accuracy in all these categories was firmly in the millisecond range, and it’s a high bar that needs to be maintained by next-generation redundant systems, should GPS or ground-based timing become compromised.
Guidelines for making PNT infrastructure fully redundant are being pushed by governments across the world. In the United States, regulations are being driven by Executive Order 13905 with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) providing a framework for how assured PNT (aPNT) should operate. It states that PNT infrastructure must perform three core functions: prevent, respond and recover. Infrastructure must have the ability to prevent atypical PNT errors and corruption of PNT sources. If prevention fails, networks must be able to respond to detected errors or anomalies and then recover from those errors.
The DHS framework outlines four resiliency levels. Level 1 has only one source providing PNT, while level 4 is a next-generation system leveraging multiple sources to derive and distribute PNT data. At Level 4, systems need to be self-survivable. This means they must function for long periods in the absence of a GPS timing source, or when ground-based timing sources have been otherwise compromised. There is even an IEEE P1952 resilient PNT standard in progress that will use this DHS framework.
Rising Threats
There are two categories of threat to PNT: external and internal. External threats include jamming (equipment that can block GPS is available off the shelf for as little as $20) and spoofing, which is the act of transmitting false GPS signals that trick receivers into calculating an erroneous position. Sophisticated cyberattacks can be in the form of either of these and spoofing (especially synchronous) is the most complex to detect.
The two main internal PNT threats come from attacks on NTP and PTP network timing as well as active GPS receivers connected to the network.
Legacy power grids have traditionally used NTP to distribute timing to substations, including IRIG, and this has already shown itself to be vulnerable to attack because it can be hacked by a process called NTP amplification.
Today, power grids are increasingly migrating to PTP because it provides the sub-microsecond accuracy needed for modern applications. PTP also has not yet been hacked, but that does not mean it soon will not be. If an attack did occur on ill-prepared critical infrastructure, the results could be catastrophic.
Secure Smart Grid Timing Components
There are two components in the smart grid: telecom connectivity to transport data, and grid protection that has different level generation grid control, transmission and management. On the telecom side, there is the edge telecom network and sometimes there are data centers. There are either core or edge data centers and these are also equipped with very good timing. A key concept in the data center is time as a service and GPS backup as a service when GPS goes down. The smart grid can also leverage this service as it gives even more robust protection and security against threats to PNT. See Diagram 1.
Diagram 1. A key concept in the data center is time as a service. (Image: ADVA)
A Resilient and Assured PNT Solution
As with other aspects of cybersecurity strategy, smart grids must employ a zero-trust framework of PNT sources. This approach never assumes that any one PNT source can be trusted. Instead, it uses a multi-source approach, verifying sources and comparing them to each other in real time to get the most accurate timing possible.
To prevent and mitigate interruptions to GPS, smart grid operators should deploy a resilient and assured PNT solution. This means it’s based around three integrated technologies: multi-layer detection, multi-source backup and multi-level fault-tolerant mitigation.
Multi-layer detection is performed through timing devices – either single or redundant – that have jamming and spoofing detection and monitoring capabilities. GNSS devices are also capable of comparing sources such as network PTP timing and they can be equipped with standalone, GNSS-backup clocks that leverage rubidium or cesium oscillators to obtain the most reliable timing information from other timing sources in the network.
Multi-source backup comes in the form of a cesium or rubidium oscillator that can provide extended holdover. Backup can be further bolstered with other sources such as eLORAN, NIST and LEO.
A neural network management system is an intelligent platform that ties everything together, from self-actionable recovery and assurance software to alerting users of issues in the network-wide timing infrastructure. It provides visibility and control of all aspects of prevention, mitigation and backup. The management system gives detailed operational data on the smart grid, showing the locations of the faults, the types of faults, and how PTP backup assurance is performing. Through capabilities powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the management and control system provides the end-to-end control, visibility, and trusted, assured PNT. It has all the intelligence to reveal threats and also take action against them, quickly recovering the network’s timing distribution capability, while keeping the network timing self-survivable. See Diagram 2.
Mitigating Cyberattacks with a Defense-in-Depth Approach
So, let us imagine there is a major attack on a smart grid. A jamming device has been used to block GPS reception on an edge grandmaster being used at a substation, while at the core of the network an ePRTC’s ability to receive GNSS signals has also been compromised. GPS is no longer viable as a source for timing in the smart grid.
The intelligent software monitoring and management system is the first line of defense, detecting and alerting operators to the two or more attacks on GPS: one at the core of the network and one at the substation. The network timing capability of the whole smart grid has been compromised.
Upstream from the substation, the core enhanced PRTC (ePRTC) has become an unreliable source of timing. However, it is equipped with a cesium clock that steps in to propagate trusted PNT backup into the substation and throughout the rest of the network. The cesium clock has no antenna, no RH signal, and is a stratum 1 clock that can propagate highly accurate timing (accurate to 1 microsecond over four months) throughout the network. It has now become the trusted source of timing until GPS can be re-established.
The most crucial element of PNT is timing. Without timing there is no positioning or navigation — it is the enabler of both — and so the distribution of accurate timing must be our top concern when we build systems.
For smart grids and all other critical infrastructure dependent on PNT to function, the cornerstone for secure and self-survivable timing networks is the concept of zero-trust. A multi-source approach to building timing networks will allow operators of critical infrastructure to leverage a combination of intelligent management software and timing devices equipped with adequate PTP holdover to respond to all threats to PNT.
To see a real-world example of this approach in action, check out the DOE DarkNet program.
A roundup of recent products in the GNSS and inertial positioning industry from the August 2022 issue of GPS World magazine.
OEM
Receiver Module
Designed for autonomous applications
Photo: Trimble
The Trimble BD9250 dual-frequency receiver module supports Trimble RTX correction services and is designed to deliver high-accuracy positioning for high-volume, autonomous-ready applications in agriculture, construction, robotics and logistics. The compact receiver has an industry-standard form factor and pinout, allowing for easy system integration and configuration. Equipped with Trimble’s advanced ProPoint positioning engine, the BD9250 delivers robust and accurate positioning. It is compatible with Trimble RTX correction services or real-time kinematic (RTK) and supports GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou as well as QZSS and NavIC. Support for the Indian NavIC S-Band signal is also available.
The AsteRx-U3 ruggedized GNSS receiver is the successor to the AsteRx-U for construction, mining and other machine control applications. It combines a triple-band precise positioning GNSS core with extended wireless communication features including Wi-Fi, UHF and 4G LTE, making it easy to fit it into any control system. The AsteRx-U3 offers low latency of under 10 msec with a high data rate, which allows machines to work rapidly and accurately. An IP68-rated housing, with fixing brackets and robust M12 connectors, enables quick installation.
The M20071 integrated GNSS receiver module, measuring 9 x 9 x 1.8 mm, incorporates the MediaTek AG3335MN flash chip. The receiver tracks four GNSS constellations concurrently (GPS + Galileo + GLONASS + BeiDou). The 1.8-volt system power supply provides outstanding low power consumption. Its multipath algorithms improve position accuracy in inner-city environments. The onboard low noise amplifier provides good performance in weak signal environments such as wearable devices.
The Strategic Anti-jam Beamforming Receiver – M-Code (SABR-M) enables precise geolocation and strike capabilities in highly contested battlespaces. It integrates receiver technology with advanced antenna electronics in a small, hardened package designed to meet challenging performance requirements. It delivers accurate position, velocity, altitude and timing data, as well as strong protection against GPS signal jamming and spoofing. At 4.5 x 6 x 1 inches, the SABR-M meets size, weight, power, cost (SWaP-C) and thermal requirements for space-constrained military applications. It uses advanced beamforming technology to improve GPS signal reception and counter threat signals.
The GPS Resilient Kit (GRK) is a cybersecurity device that comes with two antennas for monitoring and protecting time-critical infrastructures. It can be integrated with any GNSS receiver, either as a retrofit or in greenfield deployment. The GRK features a proprietary interference filtering algorithm for maximum protection, up to 40-dB attenuation of jamming signals with the premium option. It requires minimal power consumption while providing cloud-based monitoring with real-time reporting of jamming attacks. It protects GPS L1 (C/A code) with a latency of 100 ns ±15 ns (fixed).
GBaaS enables providers to combat PNT cyberattacks
Photo: ADVA
GNSS-backup-as-a-service (GBaaS) enables service providers to help operators safeguard services that rely on positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). In-network timing based on network time protocols (NTP) and precision time protocols (PTP) are also increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats. GBaas is based on ADVA’s aPNT+ platform, which leverages a suite of technologies, including multi-band GNSS receivers and management software based on artificial intelligence and machine-learning. Service providers can offer ADVA’s aPNT+ protection as a subscription-based service as part of their service-level agreements.
The i73+ pocket-sized receiver is a powerful and versatile receiver with an integrated UHF modem that delivers survey-grade accuracy in all jobsite configurations. It has 624 GNSS channels and the latest iStar technology and can be operated as either a base station or a rover. The i73+ is a highly productive NTRIP rover when used with a handheld controller or tablet and connected to a GNSS RTK network via CHCNAV LandStar field software. The receiver takes advantage of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou, in particular the latest BeiDou 3 signal, to provide robust data quality at all times.
The Geode GNS3 GNSS receiver allows users to collect real-time GNSS data with sub-meter, sub-foot and decimeter accuracy options. With a scalable accuracy platform, users can purchase what they need now, while having the option to increase accuracy in the future. It offers sub-meter accuracy with a single-frequency antenna, while its multi-frequency antenna supports all constellations on L1, L2 and L5. Atlas L-band corrections allow the Geode to be used in water utility locating, agriculture and irrigation mapping, as well as mapping projects in remote locations where other correction services are not available. The Geode GNS3 can be used with Windows, Android, iPhone and iPad devices.
Improved colorization to contextualize point clouds
Photo: GeoSLAM
The ZEB Vision is a camera accessory for the ZEB Horizon system that can be used to capture 360° panoramic photography in 4K definition for point cloud colorization. Data is captured as the user walks through the area of interest. The ZEB Vision uses GeoSLAM’s SLAM algorithm to automatically and accurately position panoramic photos on a point cloud for an interactive viewing experience. The ZEB Vision attaches easily to the ZEB Horizon. The 4K resolution increases feature definition of objects within the point cloud, allowing for a new perspective on data by navigating within a virtual representation of an environment. This means industries such as architecture, construction and facilities can add real-world context to point clouds for the creation of CAD/BIM models.
The Leica Chiroptera-5 is a high-performance airborne bathymetric lidar sensor for coastal and inland water surveys. It combines airborne bathymetric and topographic lidar sensors with a four-band camera to collect seamless data from the seabed to land. Compared to previous models, the Chiroptera-5 provides 40% higher point density, a 20% increase in water-depth penetration, and improved topographic sensitivity for generating more detailed hydrographic maps. Its high-resolution lidar data supports nautical charting, coastal infrastructure planning, environmental monitoring and landslide and erosion risk assessments.
The Clirio application combines mobile lidar 3D scanning with smart remote collaboration tools to offer teams an end-to-end 3D solution to capture, organize, share and problem-solve. This is all based on real-time field observations and data, whether team members are on site or a continent away. Clirio is a set of mobile, web and VR/AR apps for instantly capturing, sharing, reviewing and resolving worksite field observations. At a field site, Clirio users collect notes, photos and 3D scans (using the laser scanner built into a new iPad Pro or iPhone Pro). These field observations are automatically geo-referenced within the map-based workspace and synced to a secure cloud workspace. An intuitive interface allows colleagues, managers, partners, or stakeholders to sort, review, compare, and act on field observations.
The Visual Parking System (VPS) by Bird is designed to keep track of scooter parking in a scalable, efficient and vandalism-immune way that requires zero infrastructure within a community. Powered by Google’s ARCore Geospatial API, VPS enables scooter parking with pinpoint accuracy. When parking a scooter, riders will be prompted to take a quick scan of their surroundings. The system seamlessly compares a rider’s images against Google’s data and Street View images in real time to produce the best available parking solution. Stationary objects such as buildings and signs are used as reference points, while more dynamic objects such as people and vehicles are disregarded. The near-instantaneous process results in a precise, centimeter-level geolocation that enables Bird VPS to detect and prevent improper parking with extreme accuracy, helping ensure Bird vehicles are only left in approved areas.
Supports Industry 4.0 with real-time visibility of assets
Photo: Pozyx
The Pozyx Platform is an asset tracking and identification solution for seamless indoor and outdoor tracking, following packages or other assets from trucks to their destination. It is based on the omlox hub, an open standard for real-time location systems that combines GPS data with data from ultra-wideband, 5G, radio-frequency identification, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The Pozyx Platform offers a seamless indoor/outdoor transition with zoom-in from a worldwide map to a detailed indoor map, showing highly accurate locations up to 10 cm. It is designed for smart manufacturing, providing a supply-chain solution that supports Industry 4.0. It tracks and identifies any asset, providing real-time data to facilitate warehouse and inventory control, keep track of critical tools, and slash lost asset costs.
