IEEE 1588 PTP Solutions
IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is rapidly overtaking TDM, NTP and IRIG as the synchronization technology of choice for telecom, computer network and instrumentation applications respectively. Combining the low cost and huge user base of Ethernet with the precision of hardware time stamping, IEEE 1588 offers dramatic return on investment for users fluent in the protocol’s technical principles and best deployment practices. Learn how to incorporate this emerging standard into a total timing strategy optimized to meet your needs.
Read about the PTP protocol and its application in IEEE 61850 smart substations.
• Introduction to the Precision Time Protocol (IEEE 1588, PTP)
• The Best Master Clock Algorithm (BMCA)
• The PTP Power Profile and the role of Transparent Clocks
The PTP Telecom Profile paper is designed to help network engineers, network planners, and network operations understand how to deploy Precision Time Protocol (PTP, or IEEE 1588). PTP is a next generation, packet-based timing protocol targeted for use in asynchronous network infrastructures based on packet transport technologies.
Responding to consumer demand, service providers are expanding and upgrading their telecommunications networks at a phenomenal pace. As these networks grow they also need to ensure the non-stop availability of their timing and frequency synchronization reference, commonly known as a "Primary Reference Source" (PRS) to maintain Quality of Service (QoS), avoid dropped calls, support video streaming services, and enable LBS applications such as 911 calls. Carriers migrating to packet-based transport, however, lose ubiquitous access to the legacy TDM reference inputs. There is therefore a compelling need for a stable, cost-effective, and robust packet PRS that will provide synchronization for packet networks.
IEEE 1588 (also known as Precision Time Protocol or PTP) is specifically designed to provide precise timing and synchronization over packet-based Ethernet infrastructures. With the advent of IEEE 1588-2008 (version 2), PTP has now been adapted to meet the more sophisticated synchronization requirements of telecommunications applications. IEEE 1588-2008 captures those requirements by providing a set of added capabilities and protocol extensions that allow service providers to fine tune their packet-based networks for the stringent timing and synchronization requirements of telecom-oriented applications. However, optimal results can be achieved only if service providers anticipate future requirements and choose a carrier-class PTP solution that offers the highest level of resiliency, performance, scalability and management.
This paper is designed to help network engineers, network planners, and network operations understand how to deploy Precision Time Protocol (PTP, or IEEE 1588). This paper specifically focuses on the synchronization requirements for wireless backhaul applications across native Ethernet-based networks within the UMTS/GSM mobile wireless environment. It discusses the relevance of PTP within this paradigm, and describes some of the considerations that have to be taken into account for deployment of PTP into such a network. The paper also discusses some of the advantages and limitations of packet-based timing technologies, with specific reference to PTP.
IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is an emerging technology that facilitates precise time and frequency transfer over Ethernet networks. This white paper compares PTP with other technologies, explains how it works, describes performance criteria, and provides guidance for implementing PTP networks.
This white paper focuses on how the recently developed IEEE 1588 Precise Time Protocol (PTP) now promises to revolutionize time synchronization by improving accuracy and reducing cost. While certain other precise sync protocols require significant investment in hardware and cabling, PTP makes highly precise timekeeping possible using the most widely deployed medium for network connectivity – Ethernet.
An introduction and practical presentation of how network packet queuing delays inside Ethernet switches degrade IEEE-1588 time transfer accuracy and how IEEE-1588 transparent clocks restore the accuracy.
This paper focuses on the technology of timing over packet networks and the benefits of a standards-based unified synchronization platform. Find out more about the advantages, similarities and differences of IEEE 1588 (PTP), ACR, GPS and SyncE and how to reduce deployment risk and save money in your migration strategy.
Learn more about the importance of efficiently and accurately testing, measuring and analyzing PTP data to assure IEEE 1588 network readiness. This paper focuses on emerging new solutions for measuring packet synchronization and the requirements needed to ensure a consistent, predictable, measurable level of PTP network quality.
As mobile operators need to transport more data for less money, TDM transport becomes less viable. IP/Carrier Ethernet overcomes the economic and capacity limitations of TDM. However, IP requires QoS and synchronization to be consciously engineered into the solution. This paper addresses the business challenges of moving to IP/Carrier Ethernet and explores the alternatives for deploying sync delivery mechanisms such as SyncE, IEEE 1588 (PTP) and GPS. This practical guide to selecting a synchronization strategy for Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems provides a clear, in-depth look at defining IP related sync objectives, assessing multiple sync technologies and understanding topics such as on-path support.
Learn how Grandmaster Hardware Redundancy protects slave clock performance, and how to build a comprehensive and well-protected synchronization infrastructure.
This paper describer how to enable a computer to accurately measure the performance of a local clock steered by an IEEE PTP software slave or NTP client. It reviews the synchronization problem and presents procedures for test setup, calibration and clock measurement. The results show that clock accuracy may not be as good as one might think, due to factors related to asymmetric path delays and scheduling. Methods to improve clock accuracy using a PTP slave are also discussed.
This paper describes how to measure the accuracy of a local server clock being steered using an IEEE 1588/PTP software slave. The effectiveness of two different software based PTP slaves (PTPd from Sourceforge and TimeKeeper® from Symmetricom®) are measured when the host server is operationally unloaded versus when loaded with a variety of tasks. It presents procedures for test setup, calibration and clock measurement. The results show that the server timekeeping accuracy and precision varies substantially from one PTP slave application to another as well as the effectiveness in timekeeping while the server is under load.
This paper is designed to inform mobile network operators and their equipment suppliers of changes in synchronization requirements as networks advance through current and next generations of technology. In particular, it focuses on the need for superior holdover performance as sync specifications become more stringent and difficult to meet.
