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Here are the nominees for Top GNSS/PNT News Story 2016.
Microsemi Corporation has announced its TimeSource Enhanced Primary Reference Time Clock (TimeSource Enhanced PRTC), a new system protecting against serious threats associated with GNSS vulnerabilities.
It also enables telecommunications and mobile operators to meet the new G.8272.1 recommendation from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The stringent new ITU-T Recommendation G.8272.1 requires accuracy to within 30 nanoseconds (ns) or better when verified against a time standard such as UTC.
Microsemi’s new TimeSource Enhanced Primary Reference Time Clock protects against serious threats associated with GNSS vulnerabilities.
The TimeSource Enhanced PRTC “generates time” by producing its own independent time scale aligned with GNSS, while its phase, time and frequency signal outputs remain autonomous. This provides customers within the communications, power, public safety, data center and government network markets with a secure infrastructure, reducing dependency on GNSS and enabling network operators to retake control of the timing source used for network synchronization.
“Worldwide telecommunications, power utilities and other infrastructure customers are in critical need of protection against GNSS vulnerability, and Microsemi’s new TimeSource Enhanced PRTC provides a powerful, high performance solution to address this need,” said Randy Brudzinski, vice president and business unit manager of Microsemi’s Frequency and Time division. “In addition, maintaining less than 30 ns performance is important to mobile operators who require a high level of accuracy to support LTE/4G and the upcoming deployment of 5G.”
Massive deployment of GNSS as a timing source for synchronizing telecommunications networks (both wired and wireless) has created security risks to a point where governments, major telecommunications/mobile operators and enterprises are now urgently looking to protect their networks against both regional GNSS issues as well as the potential of a global GNSS outage. Microsemi’s TimeSource Enhanced PRTC works with the company’s cesium clocks to ensure time is generated in an autonomous manner. Specifically, the TimeSource Enhanced PRTC’s “source of time” aligns accurately with GNSS time without being dependent upon it—avoiding any vulnerability to threats caused by jamming and spoofing.
According to Research and Markets’ report from market research firm Markets and Markets titled, “Anti-Jamming Market for GPS by Technique (Nulling System, Beam Steering System, Civilian System), Receiver Type (Military & Government Grade, Commercial Transportation Grade), Application, End User, and Geography – Global Forecast to 2022,” the anti-jamming market for GPS is expected to reach $4.8 billion and more than 309,000 units by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7 percent and 10 percent, respectively, between 2016-2022. Demand for secured weapons guided systems and increasing vulnerability of GPS signals due to development of low-cost GPS jammers are the major growth drivers of the market.
Microsemi’s technical experts will be showcasing the new TimeSource Enhanced PRTC, along with its integrated GNSS Grandmaster (IGM) 1100 series, SyncServerS600 series, TimeProvider 2700 and TimeProvider 5000, in booth #17 at the International Timing & Sync Forum (ITSF), taking place Nov. 1-3 in Prague, Czech Republic.
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.”
Microsemi Corporation has announced its new thermally improved chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC) components with full operating and storage temperature. The new devices offer low-power holdover atomic clock technology without compromising size, weight and power (SWaP) while operating at a wide temperature range.
Microsemi is exhibiting this week at ION GNSS+, being held in Portland, Oregon.
With an operating temperature range of -10 to 70 degrees Celsius, Microsemi’s new CSAC components are highly reliable, with improved product design, process enhancements and robust product verification/validation, the company said.
The revolutionary technology enables new applications and missions not possible in the past with traditional OCXO and Rubidium clocks, offering the low SWaP clock technology at 17 cubic centimeters (cc) in size, 35 grams of weight and only 120 milliwatts of power. Microsemi’s CSAC product offers ±5.0E-11 accuracy at shipment and a typical ≤ 9.0E-10/month aging rate, which makes it suitable for many low-power atomic clock holdover applications.
“The enhancements to our CSAC product offering focus on providing the highest reliability without compromising performance for our customers, particularly in mission critical applications where every milliwatt matters,” said Ramki Ramakrishnan, director of product line management, at Microsemi. “These devices utilize an innovative approach to the component level atomic clock that will help Microsemi access the entire oscillator industry, along with miniature atomic clocks (MAC), and capitalize on the revenue growth potential within the defense, communications, industrial and test and measurement markets.”
According to the “Crystal Oscillator Market—Global Forecast & Analysts” report posted by Markets & Markets, the total available market (TAM) for the overall oscillator market is estimated to be $2.4 billion in 2016, with OCXO markets targeted by CSAC estimated to have a serviceable addressable market (SAM) of $260 million in 2016.
Microsemi’s thermally improved CSAC products support the company’s strategic presence in the defense and security markets, targeting applications such as low-power holdover against GPS vulnerabilities for position, navigation and timing security. They are also suitable for holdover in underwater (ocean bottom nodal) applications and atomic frequency reference in test and measurement applications.
“Leveraging the unique attributes of Microsemi’s CSAC technology, our company is able to offer an unprecedented combination of holdover, g-sensitivity, low power consumption and warm-up performance, while reducing the footprint to less than the critical 0.6 inches height — allowing retrofitting of legacy equipment,” explained Said Jackson, president of Jackson Labs Technologies, Inc. “The CSAC combined with our battle- and theater-proven software algorithms and support hardware enables vastly extended mission times while providing critical backup performance for GPS-denied environments when even the optional integrated Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Module (SAASM) GPS technology is jammed.”
Microsemi’s thermally remediated CSAC components are sampling now, with full production in October. For more information, visit the website or contact [email protected].
Septentrio has launched its most advanced GNSS receiver for dedicated time and frequency transfer applications, the PolaRx5TR.
The PolaRx5TR is the newest addition to Septentrio’s PolaRx product line of GNSS receivers, which led to the selection of Septentrio as preferred vendor for reference stations to UNAVCO for 2015-2018.
The PolaRx5TR has 544 hardware channels and supports all major satellite constellations including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS and IRNSS.
A calibration circuit is incorporated into the PolaRx5TR to measure and compensate for the internal delay. This feature removes the need for calibration using external equipment and ensures measurement latching is always accurately synchronized with the PPS input.
Septentrio’s newest receiver is compliant with the new-format CGGTTS version V2E of Consultative Committee for Time and Frequency (CCTF) recommendations. Also included as standard is Septentrio’s Advanced Interference Mitigation (AIM+) technology, giving outstanding interference robustness in difficult radio environments. Furthermore, up to eight independent logging sessions can be configured logging to either the 16-GB internal memory or to an externally connected device.
“Septentrio’s timing receivers have established themselves as trusted market leaders for time and frequency transfer applications,” said Francesca Clemente, product manager for the PolaRx product line. “The PolaRx5TR continues in this tradition with updated GNSS technology, compliance to new standards set by CCTF and an auto-calibration feature reducing initial setup times.”
Jackson Labs Technologies Inc., a designer and manufacturer of GNSS, timing and frequency equipment, is releasing several new products with full support for the new and emerging Galileo satellite navigation system, as well as a free software retrofit to existing products that adds Galileo functionality.
Jackson Labs’ low-phase-noise Rubidium GNSS disciplined oscillators (GNSDO).
The European Galileo satellite navigation system has now become a reality with recent launches and commissioning of Galileo satellites. Three to four Galileo satellites can now typically be tracked on average in the continental U.S., and additional space vehicle launches are planned for later this year and next year that will significantly improve Galileo availability.
Jackson Labs has upgraded its Mini-JLT GPSDO with an eighth-generation GNSS NEO-M8T timing receiver from u-blox that allows receiving Galileo signals as well as concurrent GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and QZSS signals.
Users can choose to operate a single GNSS system, or multiple concurrent GNSS systems for redundancy. Concurrent operation aids performance by allowing reception of up to 72 GNSS satellites in challenged reception areas such as in urban canyons, under foliage, indoors, or close to the Earth’s poles.
“A new era of global navigation system performance has arrived with the advent of enough usable Galileo space vehicles that are now allowing first positioning and timing operations,” said Jackson Labs President Said Jackson. “Galileo promises new technology and performance levels over the many decades-old GPS and GLONASS systems, and we are excited to lead the way with our new Galileo product line.”
The Galileo GNSS promises significant improvements in timing and frequency performance due to improved on-board hydrogen maser atomic references (Cesium and Rubidium references are used in GPS and GLONASS satellites) and other system improvements.
In stationary timing mode, the new Galileo-capable GNSS disciplined oscillator (GNSDO) products will operate with as little as one single satellite in-view, and can use additional satellites to improve timing stability and accuracy via an over-determined timing solution for oscillator disciplining. Indoor tracking is possible with a GNSS performance of down to -167 dBm.
These new Galileo GNSDO’s provide 1 PPS timing, position and navigation (PNT) data, as well as highly stable and accurate 10-MHz reference outputs. The M12M replacement receiver also provides a user-adjustable timing/frequency output with 1 Hz to > 10 MHz adjustment range, while the low-noise rubidium GNSDO can provide a typical holdover performance of up to, and better than 500 nanoseconds over 24 hours.
Besides introducing the new Mini-JLT GNSS module, JLT also makes available concurrent Galileo reception via a free software update to existing customers of the JLT M12M replacement receiver, and the low-noise Rubidium product line.
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
“Even the best technology has a bad day,” Charles Schue told the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which relies very heavily on the best technology to keep the world’s financial edifice afloat. Vulnerabilities in the stock market were pointed up during a demonstration on April 19, showcasing how one positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system can cover the chinks in another. Respectively, eLoran and GPS in this case.
Schue is CEO of UrsaNav, a company that has been developing complementary PNT solutions, specifically the high-power, low-frequency (LF), ground-wave technology that is eLoran, which UrsaNav calls “the most reliable, scalable, and future-proof available.” Schue spoke at the NYSE along with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Coast Guard, Juniper Networks and Harris Corporation.
“2014 was a very bad year for GNSS,” Schue continued, citing the GLONASS full-system outage for 11 hours and Galileo’s wrong-orbit launch of two satellites. “This year, GPS, the gold standard, had an ‘oops’ and slipped from gold to silver, when one satellite kind of wigged out, a 13.7 microsecond error that contaminated 15 other satellites.” He ran a simulation that showed how, at one point, six GPS satellites were communicating bad timing to the Eastern seaboard, where the NYSE is located.
2016 has also seen renewed GPS jamming from North Korea.
The stock exchange, along with other global financial markets, relies on microsecond timing to properly execute all transactions. The U.S. air traffic management system likewise relies on high-precision aspects of GPS that are vulnerable to interference, jamming, and even occasional system failure. Many other industries, telecommunications principally among them, are also building infrastructures and applications that rely on GPS for precise timing, thus making them vulnerable as well.
One Back-Up Transmitter in Place
An eLoran transmitter in Wildwood, New Jersey, relies on three primary reference standards, three atomic clocks, just as each GPS satellite carries three or four atomic clocks. “The signals coming from space, the signals coming from ground, they’re very similar.” ELoran also has monitoring and control sites on the ground, just like the satellite system; it has differential reference stations, and of course eLoran receivers, playing the same role as GPS receivers.
Schue asserted that the cost of launching one GPS satellite into space would fund an eLoran system for the continental United States for 20 years. Also, that a lot of industries in addition to the financial community are building infrastructures and applications that rely on GPS for precise timing, and so are equally vulnerable.
The eLoran demonstration showed how the Wildwood station sent a timing signal 130 miles to the NYSE, deep within several urban canyons and enveloped in several layers of concrete, steel and glass. A GPS receiver in the room did not pick up anything. The eLoran receiver showed precise time, to the standard of NYSE requirements.
Equipment utilized included a Spectracom SecureSync providing time to the network, once it received it from eLoran.
On a screen display showing plus or minus 500 nanoseconds relative to Coordinated Universal Time, “that red line is us receiving eLoran timing at that antenna, 130 miles away, through the urban canyons, inside this building, right now at minus 14 nanoseconds.” The eLoran equipment transmitted and received two signals, with a data channel on one of the signals. “We could put the data channel on both signals, and we could put multiple data channels on both on there as well.”
Schue said another demo inside a downtown Boston hotel, 305 miles from the New Jersey transmitter, obtained 83-nanosecond accuracy. A 2015 test to an outdoor receiver in Bangor, Maine, 500 miles from the transmitter, logged 68-nanosecond accuracy.
Plus or minus 100 nanoseconds is the typical GPS performance. “We can do far better, and GPS often does far better than that.”
Initial operating capability for a wide-area eLoran service providing precise time for the continental United States would require four transmitter sites across the middle of the country. The corporate and government partners hope to use some repurposed Loran-C assets and turn them into eLoran stations. Wildwood is transmitting at 360 kilowatts; if transmitting at 1 million watts, or 1 megawatt, the signal could penetrate even further inside buildings. The cost difference between the two powers of transmitter is not significant.
Bringing six more continental eLoran transmitter sites online, for a total of ten, would add a back-up positioning capability in addition to timing. “This is very important, because with positioning, you get mobile time — a co-primary solution for position, navigation, and timing.”
Using a differential receiver would yield even better local-area accuracy for about 35 miles around a selected site, for high-priority locations. Such a higher-precision system for the nation’s top 50 metropolitan areas, top 50 airports, and top 50 harbors could be accomplished with 71 differential sites.
Concurrence from Government and Other Industry Partners
Spokespersons from the DHS, Coast Guard, Juniper Networks and Harris Corporation preceded Schue at the NYSE presentation, all giving similar perspectives on U.S. vulnerability in many aspects, due to reliance on GPS as a sole, unsupported source of precision PNT. “Of the 16 critical infrastructure / key resource sectors in the United States, 15 use GPS for timing. GPS timing is deemed essential for 11 of these sectors,” stressed DHS.
One new potential wrinkle for Galileo was hinted at during the Munich Satellive Navigation Summit session in March on legal issues around GNSS timing. A recent GPS timing issue caused numerous problems for digital broadcasters and financial networks around the world on Jan. 26, when a data upload went slightly awry. This introduced a 13.7 millisecond error in one of the timing signals: the static offset for GPS time compared to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It led to some receivers exhibiting “different and unwanted behaviour” — a very polite description!
Located in a square near the centre of the Czech capital, the Prague Astronomical Clock was among the world’s most accurate timepieces in medieval times. It was put in place back in 1410, incorporating various astronomical and religious details, and is still working to this day.
Fortunately the issue was resolved swiftly, and correct data uploaded. The extent of any financial losses and how any legal proceedings (if any) to recover damages might pan out are still unclear. However ,what is clear is that while GPS time has a clear link to legal time, Galileo does not. Dr. Andreas Bauch from the German Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) — one of Germany’s “Time Lords” — described the underlying legal basis of GNSS time.
U.S. GPS time is traceable and legally defined to national time and UTC through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In Europe most Member States, but not all, have legal time defined in legislation. Galileo System Time (GST) is not linked to a single institution but to an average derived from a network of European standards institutions including PTB. From the presentations it was not clear to me if GST currently has a water-tight legal definition.
Talking to legal and technical experts after this session, it became clear that the legal basis for GST does need to be clearly defined in European legislation — and soon — if Galileo PNT services are to be a commercial reality in the near future. The commission needs to get on the case for this one pronto.
Microsemi Corporation, a provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, has added two products to its IGM (Integrated Grand Master) product portfolio, the IGM-1100o (outdoor version) and the IGM-1100x (support external antennas), as well as capacity enhancements to its IGM-1100i (indoor version).
The offerings broaden outdoor and indoor deployment options for mobile network operators when a cost-effective, precise timing master is needed, including small cells and backhaul to eNodeBs for wireless service delivery at the LTE network edge.
“Last year, our innovative IGM-1100i solved the problem of providing precise time indoors where GPS signals usually cannot be received,” said Sri Purisai, vice president and business unit manager at Microsemi. “Today, backhaul to macro eNodeBs is one of the biggest challenges for network operators. Our expanded IGM portfolio solves that challenge by bringing the timing source closer to the base station. Microsemi is committed to continued innovations to solve the most difficult issues facing operators.”
The expanded IGM portfolio and technology flexibly addresses indoor and outdoor deployment models for mobile service providers increasing network edge capacity and coverage to deliver advanced wireless services in public hotspots, such as K-20 campuses, public transit and retail settings.
IGM-1100i (indoor version): With its integrated GPS antenna, IGM-1100i operates indoors without the need for a dedicated antenna, associated cabling and installation hurdles. With increased capacity now from eight PTP 1588 clients to 16 clients, the IGM-1100i now also includes support for Telecom 2008 and Default 1588 profiles and support for CLI over SSH.
IGM-1100o (outdoor version): Complementing the IGM-1100i in outdoor wireless deployment cases where extended temperature range and ruggedization are critical factors, the IGM-1100o integrates the PTP 1588 master and an outdoor GPS antenna in a single device. It can be installed at an outdoor location like a roof top or alongside other eNodeB antenna installations. The IGM-1100o Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) capability makes rooftop deployment much simpler than over coax.
IGM-1100x (external antenna support): Designed for scenarios with a pre-existing GPS antenna and associated cabling, or when an indoor installation is unrealistic, IGM-1100x provides very quick and low-cost deployment of a PTP 1588 master by connecting to the existing cable via a simple cable installation to a telecom cabinet or hut. The IGM-1100x is the ideal solution for IEEE 1588 deployments of up to 16 clients with existing GPS antennas, with the TimeProvider 2700 supporting up to 128 clients.
The entire IGM portfolio leverages the same software, delivering consistent behavior and capabilities for each form factor.
“With increased smartphone usage worldwide, operators must leverage their spectrum more efficiently to enable more network coverage and capacity,” said David Chambers, founder of ThinkSmallCell. “Although network strategies vary widely — ranging from small cells, distributed antenna systems (DASs), spectrum re-farming, cloud RAN, eNodeBs and carrier Wi-Fi coordination and interference mitigation within these heterogeneous networks are key to enabling new services, and this implies precise timing. Microsemi has understood that a portfolio of flexible solutions is essential, so operators can deploy the right timing solutions for their specific network architectures. Microsemi’s expanded IGM product portfolio is good news for operators and for the mobile industry.”
According to market research firm Infonetics, the first nine months of 2015 were marked by increasing small-cell rollouts all over the world and continue to point to double-digit growth. The firm expects the total small-cell market to hit $2.2 billion in 2019 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 percent.
The IGM product portfolio is part of Microsemi’s broad portfolio for LTE Advanced deployment, which includes:
TimePictra, a modular web-based synchronization management system that scales and evolves with operational requirements, monitoring the IGM family as well as other Microsemi IEEE 1588 Grand Masters;
Indoor managed PoE midspans, which allow upgrading the network to support PoE with virtually no downtime. The family includes products with port densities of up to 24 ports and 60 watts per port, to power small cells and the IGM-1100i; and
Outdoor PoE switches, hubs, midspans and surge protectors, a complete outdoor PoE portfolio, essential for the deployment of the IGM-1100o.
On Jan. 26 at 12:49 a.m. MST, the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) at the 50th Space Wing, Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., verified users were experiencing GPS timing issues. Further investigation revealed an issue in the GPS ground software that only affected the time on legacy L-band signals. This change occurred when the oldest vehicle, SVN 23, was removed from the constellation.
While the core navigation systems were working normally, the coordinated universal time timing signal was off by 13 microseconds, which exceeded the design specifications. The issue was resolved at 6:10 a.m. MST; however, global users may have experienced GPS timing issues for several hours.
U.S. Strategic Command’s Commercial Integration Cell, operating out of the Joint Space Operations Center, effectively served as the portal to determine the scope of commercial user impacts. Additionally, the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB has not received any reports of issues with GPS-aided munitions, and has determined that the timing error is not attributable to any type of outside interference such as jamming or spoofing.
Operator procedures were modified to preclude a repeat of this issue until the ground system software is corrected, and the 50th Space Wing will conduct an Operational Review Board to review procedures and impacts on users. Commercial and Civil users who experienced impacts can contact the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center at (703) 313-5900.
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.
