GPS World

Tag: synchronization

  • Spectracom, Satelles sync in multiple indoor locations

    Orolia has synchronized a Spectracom SecureSync high-precision time server with the new Iridium Satelles Satellite Time & Location (STL) time synchronization signal powered by Iridium satellites in several indoor environments in the field. Configured with an embedded STL receiver and a small patch antenna, the SecureSync synchronized with the STL signal in several challenging indoor locations. Indoor success can be attributed in part to use of a low-Earth orbit satellite-based signal 1,000 times stronger than GPS.

    The first successful synchronization was in the interior of a building in one of the most challenging urban canyons on Earth: downtown Manhattan on the 7th floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The second was in the interior of a conference center with multiple sources of potential signal interference during The Institute of Navigation event in Monterey, California. Additional successful indoor timing signal synchronization locations include MiFiD2 events near the Paris Stock Exchange, a multi-story building and inside Gibson Hall in downtown London.

    More GNSS challenged locations to come, the two companies promise.

    Other satellite signals — notably GNSS — have limitations indoors. The Satelles STL signal uses the narrow-band paging channels of Iridium, a one-way transmission from the satellite with a very high gain system. The STL signal is completely different from the wide band, lower gain two-way channel of the Iridium phone. The STL signal is 1,000 times stronger than GPS because it originates from the Iridium constellation of 66 satellites orbiting in a low earth orbit. It is also encrypted for high security, which greatly enhances the resilient PNT capabilities of the Spectracom product lines, specificallly the SecureSync precision time and frequency reference. SecureSync with integrated STL synchronization is available to order from the Spectracom website or by contacting a representative.

    “The new STL signal is the ideal solution for those needing increased security and reliability, applications such as high frequency securities trading, financial transaction time-stamping compliance and critical infrastructure timing,” said John Fischer, vice president of Orolia for advanced R&D. “It is not only an additional signal to back up traditional GNSS, it is also stronger and more secure, adding significantly to the resiliency of high performance systems and networks that must rely on precise time synchronization.”

    Having proven the ability to provide a strong and reliable alternative signal in various indoor field locations, the new globally accessible STL signal adds a significant safety net to any critical GNSS application. Adding to the mix of signals of opportunity the resiliency of positioning and timing for financial, defense and critical infrastructure is greatly enhanced.

    “Orolia is focused on providing Resilient PNT solutions, and by combining and layering technology in innovative ways we help our customers meet their mission goals,” said Rohit Braggs, vice president of Orolia’s PNT networks and sources. “This new satellite-based service provides a unique signal that augments Spectracom systems, enhancing our ability to effectively mitigate emerging GPS and GNSS threats.”

    Orolia is the parent company of Spectracom, McMurdo, Kannad, and Sarbe brands, focused on resilient positioning, navigation and timing (RPNT) solutions that improve the reliability, performance and safety of customers’ critical, remote or high-risk operations.

    Satelles has developed and deployed a real-time PNT service based on low-Earth orbit satellites, the Iridium constellation. Satellite Time and Location (STL) signals are highly secure, penetrate deep indoors, and are available anywhere on Earth.  Satelles partners with other companies to deliver secure time and location capabilities to government and commercial users worldwide.

  • Oscilloquartz to unveil new synchronization technology

    Oscilloquartz, an ADVA Optical Networking company, will showcase vital new functionality for its synchronization and distribution technology at the 2016 International Timing & Sync Forum (ITSF) in Prague, Nov. 1-3.

    Demonstrations will reveal additional applications based on enhanced hardware and software in the OSA 5401 Syncplug, an ultra-compact Precision Time Protocol (PTP) grandmaster clock, and the OSA 5420 range of synchronization distribution and assurance devices optimized for edge deployment.

    The new feature set includes the OSA 5401’s capability to be used as a boundary or slave clock and the OSA 5420 series’ availability as a one-box solution for all timing protocols. The advancements will improve accuracy, security and cost-efficiency and create new use cases and deployment scenarios for Oscilloquartz’s timing technology.

    “With these latest innovations we can offer the ultimate timing solution. Thanks to improved security and resiliency, as well as different PTP profiles for different markets, our technology now caters for all synchronization requirements,” said Nir Laufer, director, product line management, Oscilloquartz.

    “Our enhanced OSA 5401 small form-factor pluggable grandmaster will bring major benefits to network operators. Its new slave and boundary clock functionality enables it to be used as an add-on, creating a hybrid synchronization network,” Laufer said.

    “Deployed this way, the OSA 5401 significantly reduces packet delay variation while taking up zero real estate and using very little power. It also protects against outages in the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), delivering superior frequency and phase with better resiliency throughout the network,” Laufer said.

    Further enhancements to the OSA 5401 include Layer 3 multi-cast functionality for financial and enterprise applications, as well as remote authentication and logs for improved manageability and security.

    Improvements have also been made to the OSA 5401’s GNSS capabilities, such as an elevation mask, a signal-to-noise ratio mask and fixed positioning, which enables more accurate time and frequency recovery, even in challenging environments such as urban canyon installations.

    Upgrades to the OSA 5420 series mean that it can now function as a high-capacity Network Time Protocol (NTP) server or PTP grandmaster in the same device, or even over the same port. What’s more, it can now support different types of line cards, including multiple 1Gbit/s ports used for PTP, NTP and Sync-E, as well as BITS, pulse-per-second, time-of-day and clock interfaces.

    This single box for all synchronization applications dramatically reduces cost and enables customers to protect their investment in NTP while planning future migration toward PTP.

    “We’re excited to present our latest advancements to the industry at ITSF. Our demos will show that we’ve created a complete synchronization solution — a family of devices that makes precise, resilient and affordable timing available for every industry,” said Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz.

    “With the OSA 5420 range, we’ve taken the Swiss army knife strategy even further, so that a single device now supports all sync technologies. It gives operators a one-box solution for overlay networks with different requirements,” Biran said. “With its NTP server and GNSS receiver capability, including multiple legacy and next-generation synchronization fan-out options, our OSA 5420 series is ideal for deployment in legacy synchronization architectures. It also offers the freedom to locate sync devices at any point in the network, which further reduces capital and operational expenditure.”

  • Timing, Time Transfer and Synchronization: New Applications and Techniques

    Broadcast Date: Thursday, October 29, 2015
    On-Demand Available Until: Saturday, October 29, 2016
    Moderator: Alan Cameron, Editor-In-Chief and Publisher, GPS World
    Speakers: Edward Powers,GNSS and Network Time Transfer Operations Division Chief U.S. Naval Observatory; Ron Holm, Marketing Manager
    EndRun Technologies; Grace Xingxin Gao, Ph.D., Professor University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Richard Foster, Ph.D., Sr. Business Development Manager, Microsemi Government Systems Microsemi Corporation
    Summary: Learn more about the current efforts behind – and changing demands to – keeping the nation’s timekeeping and synchronization infrastructure up to speed. We examined why that has become more critical than ever for the Internet of (Every)thing(s) and the nation’s economy. The panel also shed light on cutting-edge time transfer research, and dove into new applications and techniques for use in metrology, defense, communications and aerospace.

  • Spectracom’s VelaSync offers grandmaster, server and sync in one

    Spectracom’s VelaSync offers grandmaster, server and sync in one

    Spectracom's VelaSync time server and grandmaster clock.
    Spectracom’s VelaSync time server and grandmaster clock.

    Spectracom’s VelaSync high-speed time server offers high-performance synchronization for time-sensitive networks. It is designed for high frequency trading and other low-latency network applications.

    Matching network speeds between timing and data on a single low-latency high-throughput network enhances synchronization accuracy and eliminates queuing delays and hidden time errors caused by slower connections. The availability of a network timing appliance with 40 GbE interfaces benefits deployment of critical network infrastructure at high-speed data rates.

    When the VelaSync time server platform was introduced in 2014, it met the needs of financial trading networks’ move to 10 gigabit-per-second networking. Spectracom’s precision GPS timing technology, software from its partner FSMLabs and modular server hardware enable it to meet the needs of high-frequency trading and other low-latency network applications.

    VelaSync Features

    • PTP + NTP on all ports
    • Low hundreds of nanoseconds accuracy
    • 1G/10G/25G/40G Ethernet solves network queueing problems (silent time errors)
    • High-quality GPS-disciplined clock source
    • Rubidium atomic clock option
    • Single-pane-of-glass enterprise sync management
    • Time Intelligence Platform gathers statistics from clients, detects problems
    • Map time network topology
    • Multiple time sources for redundancy/security
    • Configuration via web interface

  • Microsemi offers security-hardened NTP timing platform

    Microsemi Corporation, a provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced its SyncServer S6xx series of Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers.

    The new SyncServers provide a highly secure, accurate and flexible timing and frequency platform for synchronizing network elements and mission-critical electronics systems in enterprise information technology (IT) applications such as Internet protocol telephony and physical security, and government instrumentation applications such as satellite communications and defense operational infrastructure.

    “Microsemi’s new SyncServer series is a rock-solid enterprise level time server, interoperating easily with our Domain Time II software,” said Jeffry Dwight, president of Greyware Automation Products, the leading provider of time synchronization, management, and auditing software for Windows. “The new SyncServer raises the bar for accurate time synchronization with hardware-based time stamp support, which we found significantly reduced jitter and latency in time served, without losing accuracy. Installation was also much more flexible than any other GPS/GNSS unit we’ve tested. Anyone needing dependable high-quality NTP timestamps should consider Microsemi’s new SyncServer series.”

    The new series features SyncServer S600, a security-hardened NTP time server with Microsemi’s NTP Reflector technology for robust security, accuracy and reliability of network time services, and the SyncServer S650, a highly versatile timing and frequency system with the company’s FlexPort technology for multiport, user definable output signal configuration.

    The SyncServer S600 is designed for enterprise IT customers managing corporate networks in industries such as financial services and healthcare, while the SyncServer S650 is designed for electronics system engineers synchronizing mission-critical, system-level instruments.

    “Robust security, system agility and flexibility of time services are essential for modern IT networks,” said Sri Purisai, vice president of timing and synchronization business, at Microsemi. “Our innovative SyncServer S6xx series timing platform makes significant advances in the security hardening of timing ports, as well as adaptability to various network topologies and flexibility of timing output configuration. This next-generation offering from Microsemi provides our customers a simple migration path to meet future requirements for faster, more agile and scalable network operations.”

    According to the 2014 U.S. State of Cybercrime Survey, organizations use a gamut of security technologies to protect network operations. Time plays a vital role in determining the critical “when” of several key security technologies. Survey respondents cited intrusion detection (62 percent), log monitoring to identify intrusion attempts (49 percent) and security event analysis (40 percent) as technologies used for network protection. Without accurate time synchronization to UTC across the network, the effectiveness of these tools in securing the network becomes marginal.

    SyncServer S600

    Microsemi’s SyncServer S600 is a network time server with security-hardened NTP Reflector technology, supporting extremely high-capacity and ultra-accurate NTP server operations in a multiport, dedicated network time appliance. Easily integrated into existing, future and cloud network topologies, including software-defined networking (SDN), the SyncServer is designed for IT network administrators and architects who are heavily reliant upon server log files for network management.

    SyncServer S600 comes with four 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) local area network (LAN) ports, each port equipped with hardware time stamping, multiplying the network configuration possibilities. All ports are equipped with high-resolution hardware time stamping, and the S600 is NTP and precision time protocol (PTP) ready in a multiport PTP configuration.

    A simple software update and license purchase/installation will be available in a future software release. Other benefits include interoperability, ease-of-use, extensive security choices and a modern web interface, Microsemi said.

    Additional features:

    • NTP hardware time stamping standard, with nanosecond accuracy
    • NTP reflector technology for improved security, NTP throughput and accuracy
    • Comprehensive suite of security protocols

    SyncServer S650

    As a superset of Microsemi’s SyncServer S600, the SyncServer S650 provides all the features of the SyncServer S600, as well as additional offerings. Leveraging the company’s FlexPort timing technology, it delivers flexibility in precise time and stable frequency synchronization in a price competitive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution.

    FlexPort timing technology efficiently and cost-effectively adds innovative “any signal, any connector” technology through software configuration, eliminating the wasted space inherent with legacy-style fixed-signal modules with fixed-signal types.

    Specially designed for system and instrumentation engineers in the electrical, system, metrology, communications and defense markets looking to easily output a variety of accurate and stable time and frequency signal types in a cost-effective manner, the device provides network-based timing features with software upgrades to completely security-harden the system.

    The GPS referenced SyncServer S650 is built for modern electronic systems and networks that require synchronization performance adaptable to a wide range of applications. Microsemi’s FlexPort configurations eliminate the need for distribution chassis, saving time and costs, in addition to providing an easy-to-use system, Microsemi said. Other benefits include high accuracy and signal quality, as well as environmental design robustness.

    In addition to the features of the SyncServer S600, the SyncServer S650 has:

    • Clock accuracy typically better than 10 nanoseconds to universal time
    • Standard timing I/O card that meets most popular timing output requirements, eliminating the need to purchase multiple plug-in modules
    • FlexPort technology option for any signal, any connector flexibility.

  • PCTEL Launches High Rejection GNSS Antenna Portfolio Using SkyLink Technology

    PCTEL Inc. has launched a new GNSS multi-satellite antenna portfolio for mobile and base-station timing applications. PCTEL’s new SkyLink antenna technology features out-of-band rejection characteristics that provide exceptional GPS/Galileo and GLONASS L1 support and performance in heavy RF traffic environments for fixed and mobile timing and asset tracking applications.

    The new portfolio consists of two product lines:

    • SkyCompass for fleet management and asset tracking applications
    • SkyStamp base-station antennas for timing and synchronization of 4G LTE cellular networks.

    SkyCompass comprises six new configurable antenna platforms, including single-band or multiband GNSS options that address the majority of fleet management installation needs. SkyStamp offers two timing reference and synchronization antenna models that provide maximum mitigation of the effects from nearby LTE interference sources.

    “Over the last decade, PCTEL has been the industry’s technology leader in high rejection GPS products. These antennas are deployed worldwide by OEM customers in aviation, defense, and fleet management public safety projects,” said Rishi Bharadwaj, vice president and general manager of PCTEL’s Connected Solutions. “True to our commitment to support global communications and evolving requirements, PCTEL’s SkyLink technology provides global multi-satellite GNSS coverage and precision tracking by rejecting RF noise or interference that can negatively affect communications in performance critical situations.”

    SkyCompass and SkyStamp antennas will be available for shipment in November.

  • National Instruments Launches GPS Time-Stamping and Synchronization Module

     

    National Instruments has announced the NI 9467 GPS synchronization module, which accurately synchronizes a large-scale CompactRIO system with features such as data time-stamping and system clock setting.

    The NI 9467 is one of six new C Series modules designed for NI CompactRIO embedded control systems and NI CompactDAQ modular data acquisition systems. By expanding the C Series platform, NI provides engineers and scientists with new and improved options for a wide variety of embedded control, monitoring and data acquisition applications. Channel counts on the individual modules range from three to 32 channels to accommodate a wide range of system requirements, and the majority of C Series modules work in both the NI CompactDAQ and CompactRIO measurement platforms with no modification.

    “We rely on National Instruments hardware and software to provide the rugged, distributed control we need for our wind turbine system,” said Jonathan C. Berg, mechanical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. “The site-wide architecture uses NI VeriStand and the NI 9467 GPS module to choreograph all of the data acquisition and control operations.”

    “This is the largest C Series module release in several years, reflecting our ongoing commitment to expanding the NI LabVIEW RIO architecture,” said Jamie Smith, director of industrial embedded marketing at National Instruments. “At NI, we constantly innovate and build upon our systems to help engineers simplify development.”

    Features of the NI 9467 include:

    • Pulse per second (PPS) accuracy of ±100 ns, >99 percent typical
    • SMA female antenna connector type (antenna sold separately)
    • +5 VDC (up to 30 mA) for active GPS antenna
    • Returns stationary global position after self-survey (module does not work for mobile applications)
    • NI CompactRIO support only
    • NI recommends using the NI 9467 with the NI FPGA Timekeeper.

  • Billions per Second

    “Remember that time is money.”

    —Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748

    For those who take Benjamin Franklin’s admonition very, very seriously, there is now GPS. Network managers for financial institutions recognize that GPS provides the fastest, best, and cheapest source for exact time determination.

    In a white paper, “The Importance of Network Time Synchronization,” Paul Skoog of TrueTime, Inc highlights precise timing’s critical role in transaction processing (see ). Financial institutions from mortgage brokers to stock markets use millions of servers and workstations of all types and functions, networked together and executing a blinding rush of transactions, at rapid changes of value from second to second. In just one instance of everyday fluctuations, the chart above depicts the closing minutes of Intel trading on the New York Stock Exchange stock, November 14, 2001— at an average rate of six transactions/second, and up to 20 per second during intense trading.

    Frequently traders, both business and individual, call their brokering institution to dispute the recorded value of a transaction. In resolving these issues, the time of transaction is critical. Even more critical is the order of the transaction among thousands or millions of others.

    The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) now requires its 5,500 members in 82,000 U.S. branch offices to time-stamp all transactions within a 3-second accuracy or better.

    Brokers actually have a higher requirement than that, driven by the need to place transactions in a correct sequence of execution, particularly if there are many nearly simultaneous transactions. Since computer operations happen automatically and quickly, system clock resolution must be less than the minimum transaction composition and transmission time, leading to a need for 5–20 millisecond resolution.

    Computers compute. They do not keep time very well. Based on inexpensive oscillator circuits or quartz crystals, they can easily drift seconds or minutes per day. Many clocks continually drifting apart put network operations at risk.

    The use of GPS as a time-reference standard by financial houses from stock exchanges to offshore banks constitutes another reason the Heritage Foundation advises designating GPS as a critical infrastructure: it underpins the aggregate financial network — and, some might argue, Western society itself.

    Future Stock

    Gerard Lyons, Jim Duggan, and Paraic Quinn at Ireland’s University of Galway are investigating current and possible future applications of distributed time-synchronization to enable transaction timestamping in an agent-based system. They have set up a “Stratum-1” (defined as microsecond-accurate) Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, used by other NTP servers and clients in Europe for time synchronization.

    These researchers state that “tightly-coupled, vertically-integrated supply chains are giving way to more fluid ‘value constellations’ connecting suppliers, intermediaries and customers through real-time information conduits.” They predict the development of “virtual enterprises, temporary networks of companies that come together quickly to exploit fast changing opportunities. An intelligent electronic broker might create a virtual enterprise to execute a single transaction.”

    In this vision of future e-commerce, timing is everything .

    Manufacturers

    The New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank, and other financial institutions utilize TrueTime’s (now Symmetricom) TimeVault product line of NTP servers. Datum (also part of Symmetricom) and Spectracom Corporation, among other companies, also supply NTP servers to financial houses. The University of Galway’s timeserver uses Trimble’s Acutime 2000 GPS synchronization kit.