Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WORLDTIMING II (ULTRA ACCURATE WORLD TIMING SERVICES II)

Teaser

The world today relies on time synchronization at the highest accuracy level since most of the infrastructures classified as critical by governments are in fact time-critical. Precise time is calculated through an operation that involves the atomic clocks synchronization of...

Summary

The world today relies on time synchronization at the highest accuracy level since most of the infrastructures classified as critical by governments are in fact time-critical. Precise time is calculated through an operation that involves the atomic clocks synchronization of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) while its distribution across the surface segment is typically carried out by the Time Departments at National Metrology Institutes (NMIs). Since a breakdown or malfunction in these infrastructures could have dramatic effects, it is not surprising the serious concern about their vulnerability. Disruptions can be attributed to both environmental factors, as the space weather influence, collision of satellites with other objects or space garbage, and man-made factors as interferences with some radio bandwidth frequencies or malevolent jamming or spoofing with domestic equipment.
The main objective of this Project is to develop a fully industrial and dependable system composed of two independent solutions. The first one will be integrated with Galileo GNSS and able to protect the GNSS time receivers. The second one will be capable of distributing time for key facilities using terrestrial networks links over long distances. The solutions will fulfil the needs of different important segments requiring a resilient and secured GNSS time receivers and long-distance transnational ultra-accurate and deplendable time distribution.

Work performed

Long distance links and GNSS backup solution:

-The work teams have been created and some early datasheets and documentation have been prepared.
-The equipment components have been optimized in number and size in order to adapt it to the last trends in electronics.
-EMC test have been passed and/or are being passed.
-Compliance test of the products according 1G/10G Ethernet interfaces and protocols such as Sync-E and PTP have been done.
-The FPGA design for the White Rabbit compliant 10G Ethernet node has been carried out.
-Different test have been performed in order to analyze the influece of the temperature on the equipment reliability.

Long distance links:

-Target experiments and system architectures (based on DWDM technology) have been defined and the electronic/optical components and related devices have been acquired.
-The validation of the impact of most of the optical components have been carried out as well as the evaluation of the effect on the synchronization of most of the optical elements.
-Some advices and recommendation have been received from worldwide experts.
-The procedures for connecting the equipment to a real 10G network through the Spanish network used by Universities and research centers have been done.
-Non-GNSS based long distance calibration methods have been explored.
-Different setups towards validating equipment in different working conditions have been considered.

GNSS backup:

-GNSS chip integration in WR-ZEN TP .
-GNSS chip has been tested in PTB and currently Seven Solutions is working towards the integration with GMV.
-Firmware development in progress.
-Fault detection on time estimates received from one GNSS in progress.
-Automatic and transparent switching in progress.
-Setups towards validating equipment in different working conditions have been made.
-Equipment have been sent to different pilots.

IPR protection:

-Identification of open source modules and propietary components of the products.
-Recommendations have been produced from an external IP expert.
-IPR protection mechanisms have been defined.

Dissemination:

-A dissemination task is being continuously carried out through social media, press notes, website, and events.
-Two papers have been published and promoted online.
-Commercial material and marketing material have been prepared.
-Seven Solutions has improved its website and has updated it with the project information.

Communication:

-Seven Solutions have shared resources tools with key partners via email/telcos.
-Web meetings towards exchanging material are continously taken place.
-Technical visits/ Business case definition have been made.
-Seven Solutions has participated in several relevant events.

Commercialization:

-Seven Solutions have performed a commercialization roadmap and strategy to penetrate different segments and geographical areas.
-Strategic partnerships have been done.
-20 new NDAs have been signed.
-Seven Solutions has engaged business facilitors in 4 continents.

Final results

As stated before, Satellite Time Costumers (STC) have a growing concern about the GNSS susceptibility to jamming and spoofing. Different solutions have been tested by different companies and research groups as the use of isolated GNSS and backup oscillators which are not stable in case of GNSS failure, have poor scalability and whose effectiveness has been only shown for a reduced number of hours. Other backups are given by the NPT-based solutions whose main problem is its poor scalability and the deterioration of the accuracy during distribution processes that results in 1ms of accuracy via Ethernet. In addition, today\'s most used solutions have recently demonstrates absolute accuracies around 33 ns. Although the accuracy level required depends on the target operations and span from some miliseconds, as needed for Credit card payment, to sub-nanosecond as used by some scientific laboratories, the accuracy requirements of a large number of infrastructures are increasing , motivated in some cases by new regulations as MiFID II that demand sub-nanosecond time-stamping accuracy.
With respect to the existent solutions for long distance transmission, different methods have been proposed as the transmission of accurate time with Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer Techniques (TWSTFTT) that provide accuracy results better than 100 ps to coherent transmission technologies that have improve network capacities by using Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM). In most of the cases the control of the propagation delay represent an issue that still remain open, and calibration procedures should be able to deal with it. In this sense, FireflyNet will represent important improvements thanks to the development of self-continous calibration processes. The solution will distribute ultra-high accurate time using existing telecommunication networks reducing deployment costs. Moreover, regarding the next PTP standard, WR-PTP (PTPv3), these solutions will immediately fit with the new standard, which is suppose to take place in 2018.

Regarding the equipment industrialization, several enhancements have been achieved regarding the robustness of the WR equipment. For example temperature-based alarms, a scream to monitor characteristic synchronization parameters and swapping fans and power sources have been added to the last WR switch. In addition, all the equipment related to FireflyNet and Linkedclocks solutions will have not only the CE and FCC labels, but also the PSE for Japon. Regarding the interoperability, Seven Solutions has worked towars the interoperability of WR technology with PTP and Sync-E. With respect to 10 G, the reference architecture has been designed and preliminary tests have been made.

Website & more info

More info: http://sevensols.com/index.php/projects/world-timing/.