Meinberg time sync solutions take center stage at WSTS 2017

Meinberg demonstrated its wide range of time synchronization solutions during the annual Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Services – North America's premier timing sync event – held April 3 – 6 in San Jose, California.

Accurate time synchronization is a driving force behind many of today's most commonly used technologies. From telecom to finance, utilities, broadcast, transportation, Internet of Things (IoT), GNSS and Defense – more and more sectors depend on precision time synchronization. In recognition of the expanding role of time sync, the 2017 edition of the Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Systems (WSTS) attracted an increasing number of exhibitors and attendees from across a growing range of sectors – and Meinberg used the WSTS stage to showcase how its vast portfolio of technology solutions help companies meet their time sync needs.

The WSTS agenda features a range of presentations and technology demonstrations from pre-eminent experts in synchronization for telecom, power, finance, and other applications. Included among these was Meinberg USA Principal Technologist Dr. Doug Arnold. Dr. Arnold, who serves as the co-chair of the IEEE 1588 Working Group, presented a preview of the upcoming revision to the standard, which features enhancements for robustness and versatility of precise network time distribution.

Co-organized by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the WSTS is a vendor-neutral technology workshop focused on the latest developments in sync requirements, systems and standards and how these developments effect both various industries and equipment manufacturers. Meinberg, represented by local partner JTime! Meinberg USA, continues to be an official sponsor of the event.

Live demos of the Meinberg NetSync Monitor System

At the Meinberg booth, attendees were able to see the Meinberg NetSync Monitor System (NMS) in action. NMS measures the sync accuracy of remote PTP and NTP clients, as well as PPS signals, storing the measurements with status information. It uses standard PTP or NTP messages in order to establish a back channel running from the monitored device to the monitoring server, and generates alarms if user configurable limits are exceeded. For PTP, clients (i.e., PTP ‘slaves’) must be modified to support the NSM ‘reverse PTP’ measurement approach, using standard IEEE 1588 Delay Request, Delay Response, Sync and Follow-up messages with custom TLVs carrying additional status information.

"Unlike the other monitoring solutions currently on the market, NSM is unique in its use of real measurements instead of ‘self-reported’ status information from the client,” says JTime! Meinberg USA Chief Operations Officer Mark Street. "For PTP clients without NSM support, this means the monitoring system can fall back to standard PTP management messages." For NTP clients, Street explains that a standard NTP query/response exchange
is used to measure the synchronization accuracy of the monitored nodes.

The NMS demonstration used the Meinberg LANTIME M4000 IMS as the primary reference time clock (PRTC). In this scenario, the LANTIME M4000 IMS both served the PTPv2 telecom profiles to the network and fulfilled the core role of the NSM. NetSync’s unique design also allows for the use of multiple monitoring system nodes within a network, not necessarily the PRTC. The monitored slave nodes at the edge of the telecom network consisted of Meinberg LANTIME M3000 IMS, M1000 IMS, M1000S IMS, M500 IMS and a Meinberg SyncBox N2X.

“The WSTS crowd showed considerable interest in the NSM, and our demonstration was the perfect opportunity to show the product off and talk one-on-one with potential users,” adds Street. “During the course of the event, we were able to show and describe the modular design and flexible composition of our entire line of IMS products, from the LANTIME M4000 all the way down to an LANTIME M500 and the SyncBox N2X.” Street added that the graphical demonstration of each PTP slave sync performance over time and a short explanation of the key data points gathered by the monitoring system were particularly popular features.

The company also showcased its next-generation high precision, high-performance HPS-100 IEEE1588 time stamping module, which can support up to 2048 PTP slaves in unicast mode. This demonstration highlighted the module’s sheer power for supporting thousands of PTP slaves, as well as the ability to monitor network PTP slaves and boundary clocks on the telecom network.

About Meinberg
Meinberg is a global leader in time synchronization solutions. The company’s flagship IEEE 1588 grandmaster clocks and NTP timeserver appliances have set the industry standard for innovation, flexibility and reliability – making them one of the market’s top network time synchronization solutions.

The Bad Pyrmont, Germany-based company designs and produces a range devices, including:

• High-end PTP and NTP timeserver products
• GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou receivers, DCF77 / WWVB / MSF receivers
• IRIG / AFNOR time code generators / readers
• An array of accessories (antennas, diplexers, converters, signal distribution systems, etc.)

As a global company, Meinberg products are used around the world, delivering synchronization for mission critical applications in power grid/substation automation, digital broadcasting, telecommunication networks, aerospace and cutting edge research. All of its products are backed by a service network of distributors and partners located in over 40 countries.