An Enhanced End-to-End Transparent Clock Mechanism with a Fixed Delay Ratio

Abstract

IEEE 1588 is extended in its second version to enable correction for asymmetric paths by measuring peer delay and residence time in transparent clock devices. However, these measurements are based on local clocks, and errors resulting from the differences in the rates of the master and the transparent clock devices affect synchronization accuracy. In this work, we present an enhanced end-to-end transparent clock mechanism with a fixed delay ratio to solve the rate mismatch problem. The proposed mechanism, which is not compatible with current IEEE 1588 systems, needs two rounds of message exchange, and the massages in the second round are delayed for a specified time related to the fixed delay ratio. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed mechanism can recover precise time to fulfill the critical synchronization requirement of telecommunications networks.