While the use of GNSS based time has become more vital for critical infrastructure operations, the security of the GNSS signal itself has become increasingly vulnerable to a wide range of jamming and spoofing threats, both intentional and unintentional. Given the inherently fragile nature of the GNSS signal, an important way Read more »
Invariably, things change. Profound I know, but even in the world of the venerable IRIG timecode there is a new search engine contender, iRig. Granted, a new guitar interface adapter for your smart phone app is a far cry from a waveform used to synchronize instrumentation, but even in IRIG there are revolutionary changes happening. Read more »
I think we would agree the publishing of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) is a very useful mechanism to collectively evolve and harden our networks and products. It starts the timer, if you will, on a race between the black hats and organizations to respectively exploit or neutralize the CVE. Read more »
As we continue to introduce Space CSAC to the market, it is important to point out that while customers bring varying requirements when seeking an atomic reference for space missions, they share a curiosity about how the CSAC becomes a Space CSAC. Read more »
Initial phase and frequency errors an have a big impact on holdover performance. The CSAC’s unique 1PPS input can be utilized to eliminate these errors by employing proper disciplining. Read more »
The CSAC design is unique in that the physics is vacuum-packaged to eliminate convection/conduction effects. This enables CSAC to resist harsh thermal environments. Read more »
Here we explain how time error can be calculated from published aging rates. Given the CSACs small size and power consumption, the calculated holdover performance is impressive. Read more »
The chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC) is the world’s lowest-power, lowest-profile atomic clock. Thousands of units are deployed every year. But how does it perform in a rapidly changing thermal environment? Read more »
Things change in unexpected ways, even in network time servers, which in their most basic form are “just clocks.” Back in the day, new software releases came out chock full of new features and, to a lesser extent, bug fixes. We promoted those new features and benefits Read more »
Over the past weeks, I’ve written about the negative consequences of running out-of-sync computers in a network. The dangers are many and include: Read more »
In the second part of “providing good network time,” this article will go into more detail on redundant time sources, reliable time synchronization, secure time source, ease-of-use, and cost efficiency. Read more »
Providing Good Network Time
There are two features that make good network timekeeping easy to recognize: Read more »
Loss of Credibility Read more »
Keeping accurate time on a network is more than just a technical issue—it is also a legal one. That’s because time is used as a basis for making contracts. Read more »
How organizations keep track of time has a major impact on the overall security of the organization’s IT infrastructure, for two reasons. First, the mechanisms used to keep track of time are among the most vulnerable to exploitation by a hacker. Read more »
A company’s IT infrastructure can be in critical danger if network clocks don’t agree with each other. Just one of these dangers, Read more »
In the first post of this series, we wrote about how most organizations today rely on networks of computers, all of which rely on clocks. If the clocks in these computers don’t agree with each other or reflect the correct time, it’s a bomb ticking away in the heart of IT infrastructure. Read more »
In the first post of this series, we wrote about how most organizations today rely on networks of computers, all of which rely on clocks. If the clocks in these computers don’t agree with each other or reflect the correct time, it’s a bomb ticking away Read more »
Most organizations today rely on networks of computers, all of which rely on clocks. So what happens when the clocks in these computers don’t agree with each other—or with the correct time? What happens to the processes running on the networks? Read more »
5 Elements, 1 Objective
The value of networks is that everything, virtually speaking, can happen in the same place. There is only one incontrovertible physical reference Read more »
Element 5: A Secure, Verifiable Audit Trail
Lastly, but certainly not least, a time synchronization infrastructure requires an audit capability. The whole point of a timekeeping infrastructure is to provide assurance Read more »
The Five Elements – Part 4: Robust Network Time Management
Managing a network of devices as a whole is different from managing specific devices. The availability and reliability of accurate time across the entire network—not just a part of it—must be guaranteed. Read more »
The Five Elements – Part 3: Robust Server Management
How should an organization control a network time server? The answer probably is: Any way it prefers to. Some companies, for example, might prefer Read more »
The Five Elements – Part 2: A Timekeeping Architecture that Fits
Acquiring UTC from GPS requires taking the signal off the air and delivering it to the clients (PCs, workstations, servers, controllers, etc.) that rely on accurate time Read more »
The Five Elements – Part 1: An Accurate Time Source
In fact, the same is true for most organizations—accurate time needs to be pervasive on the network. Read more »
To understand the ingredients of network time synchronization, it is first necessary to understand why synchronization is important. Read more »
Organizations today need network time synchronization that ensures the integrity of network operations and applications, that needs little in the way of management overhead. Read more »
Global Positioning System (#GPS) vulnerabilities are real, just ask Microsemi’s Duke Buckner (senior director strategy and business development) who was out of the country one day in 2016 when time stuttered. Microsemi timing receivers continued to work Read more »
In the past couple of articles in this series, my colleague, Barry Dropping, wrote about wireless networks, specifically laying the groundwork for 5G and the standards for distribution of time and phase in these networks. Read more »
In this third and final article in the series on chip scale atomic clocks, I’d like to share products that have leveraged CSAC’s key attributes and a conclusion. Read more »
In the first of this series of articles on chip scale atomic clocks, I shared about an atomic clock, what it is and how they are more accurate than Quartz clocks. Read Thermally-Improved Read more »
Let’s talk atomic clock technology!
Before we get into the details of the thermally-improved Microsemi chip scale atomic clock, allow me to share Read more »
Microsemi has enabled cable TV and internet provider Stofa, based in Denmark, to successfully complete the first trial in Europe deploying a new type of architecture—Remote PHY (R-PHY)—based upon the DOCSIS® 3.1 standard in Europe. Read more »
TimeProvider® 5000 is an IEEE 1588-2008 standard–compliant grandmaster clock with a carrier-grade design that provides Read more »
Ruggedized Stratum 1 NTP Server
The Microsemi SyncServer S80 is a fully integrated GPS/GLONASS antenna, receiver, NTP server, and PoE interface that easily integrates Read more »
Ruggedized Stratum 1 Network Time Server
The Microsemi SyncServer S80 is a fully integrated GPS/GLONASS antenna, receiver, NTP server, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) interface that easily integrates into existing PoE infrastructure Read more »
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., April 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced it is the recipient of the Security Industry Association’s (SIA) New Product Showcase (NPS) award Read more »
These examples offer a view into what the chip-scale era in timekeeping will look like. The SA.45s CSAC delivers the accuracy and stability of an atomic clock to portable applications for the first time — Read more »
Performance Benchmarks
As innovative as the CSAC’s design is, most users will gauge its value by its performance benchmarks. In summary, these include the following:Read more »
The SA.45s CSAC employs coherent population trapping (CPT) to interrogate an atomic frequency. A laser illuminates atoms in a resonance cell with polarized radiation at two sidebands separated by the atomic resonance frequency. The atoms are excited Read more »
In a series of coming posts, we’ll write about how leading-edge technology enables a chip scale atomic clock. Please read the series and share your feedback with us.
Pairing Radiation Tolerance with the CSAC’s Low Power and High performance – brings the accuracy and stability of atomic clocks to Commercial Space applications.
Benjamin Franklin is often credited as the first person to state “time is money” in the form of an advice to a young tradesman. And though at that time it was said in terms of the opportunity cost, the statement is true today more than Read more »
Critical Infrastructure relies on position, navigation, and timing (PNT) which is now almost exclusively delivered using GNSS. The threat of GNSS errors has become Read more »
As timing and synchronization has grown in importance within Critical Infrastructure networks, centralized management and visibility of this vital function has become essential Read more »
Cesium beam atomic clocks, such as Microsemi’s 5071A and TimeCesium products, have been popular frequency standards for deployment in Critical Infrastructure for many years. The cesium clock used in communications Read more »
When a GNSS failure occurs, dispatching personnel to a location to resolve an issue could take hours or even days. Critical Infrastructure operators rely on holdover clocks to provide valuable Read more »
GNSS-based errors, whether intentional or unintentional, can quickly impact a vast geography and widely dispersed locations. Additionally, a large variety of operational environments must be accounted for Read more »
GNSS errors and anomalies can be caused by a range of issues. Because real world signals from the satellites do not travel in a vacuum, but pass through Read more »
Critical Infrastructure is typically constructed in a tiered manner beginning with a set of core sites that are connected Read more »
GPS revolutionized the world with its ability to provide an accurate, reliable, and cost-effective positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) service with Read more »
Just a friendly reminder from the Microsemi Frequency and Time Division that daylight saving time for many in the U.S. is this upcoming Sunday morning, March 11, at 2am. Clocks will be adjusted… Read more »
In recent articles, I’ve talked about ESMA’s MiFID II requirements and how this regulation – effective January 2018 – will require trading systems to time stamp key trading event records within an assured level of accuracy… Read more »
I’ve always appreciated the saying “a man with one clock knows the time, a man with two is not sure.” Read more »
In this day and age, if your company trades securities, then you can’t avoid talking about time stamping and financial regulations. Read more »
Microsemi recently announced the availability of the SyncServer S650 SAASM time and frequency standard incorporating a selective availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM) to provide… Read more »
Microsemi also recently announced the availability of the SyncServer S80 Network Time Server that integrates the GPS antenna, receiver, and Network Time Protocol (NTP) timing server into a single ruggedized, environmentally-hardened unit ideal for outdoor installation with physical security systems. Read more »
The integrated GNSS master (IGM) portfolio is often viewed as an excellent small 1588v2 PTP grandmaster at the edge of the network to serve clusters of base stations. Read more »
Sensors employed in undersea applications rely on precise timing to be effective. Read more »
The delivery of synchronization to next-generation base stations will rely on PTP grandmaster clocks deployed in the network. Read more »
At the ION GNSS+, Microsemi recently unveiled its latest offering to secure infrastructure from GPS jamming and spoofing threats: the BlueSkyTM GPS Firewall. Read more »
Quartz is the material of choice for stable resonators, as it is one of the few piezoelectric crystals that has very high Q and is also highly anisotropic. Read more »
Typically when we talk about crystals, we are referring to crystals using the fundamental vibration mode of AT-cut quartz. Read more »
The image below is a common diagram implementing a crystal. An even more common question is what is the purpose or function of the capacitors tied onto either terminal of the crystal? Read more »
We often discuss the complex designs that oscillators can achieve, but rarely stop and think about a fundamental component: the quartz crystal. Read more »
In the world of oscillators specifications get passed around as a form of convenient shorthand and we get so accustomed to the terms used to describe the specifications that we often forget how they got that way.Read more »
We are rounding up our Clock Jitter series by taking a look at what external factors can induce jitter in oscillators, and how they can be effectively compensated for.Read more »
Continuous advances in high-speed communication and measurement systems require higher levels of performance from system clocks and references.Read more »
As previously demonstrated, timing noise/jitter is a very complicated phenomenon, and in order to understand how jitter can impact a system it needs to be measured and quantified. Read more »
What Is Jitter?
Jitter as defined by NIST as the “short term phase variation of the significant instants of a digital signal from their ideal positions in time”. Read more »
Quick Answer: It depends.Read more »
In addition to this blog we keep a selection of longer form articles and whitepapers on our website. Read more »
In a previous post we described Power Supply Rejection Ratio (PSRR) and discussed the ways it can impact an oscillators performance. In this update one of the ways we approach measuring PSRR on our devices.Read more »
What is PSRR?
Power Supply Rejection Ratio or Power Supply Ripple Rejection (PSRR) is a measure of how well a circuit rejects noise, of various frequencies, injected at its voltage input. The ripple can be induced from a number of sources, such as a 50Hz/60Hz supply ripple, a switching ripple from a DC/DC converter, or a ripple due to the sharing of an input supply between different circuit blocks on the board. In the timing solutions world, when discussing PSRR we are typically referring to supply ripple.
A common VCXO specification is the Vc input impedance. A typical value might be 100KOhm or 10MegOhm. What does this actually mean?
Like most oscillators, VCXOs have many specifications. APR – Absolute Pull Range – is a single specification that combines many of them to make selection easy. The term “Pull” is unique to the oscillator industry and refers to the small frequency tuning available via the voltage control pin. Pull is measured as df/fnom in ppm.
TCXO: Stability vs Accuracy
Temperature compensated crystal oscillators (TCXOs) are used for frequency reference in systems that require a frequency stability of 10 ppm or better, which typically cannot be achieved by a standard XO (crystal oscillator) or VCXO (voltage controlled crystal oscillator).
Holdover is what happens when the primary timing reference goes away for some reason and the local oscillator is left to its own devices (for a fairly well maintained summary of the topic see the Wikipedia article Holdover in synchronization applications)
The question is: How much can you trust the local oscillator and for how long?
There is a lot of information available on the internet for engineers who want to learn more about frequency control, synchronization and clocks in general.
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