Abstract
Network visibility and monitoring are critical in modern networks due to the increased density, additional complexity, higher bandwidth, and lower latency requirements. Precise packet timestamping and synchronization are essential to temporally correlate captured information in different datacenter locations. This is key for visibility, event ordering and latency measurements in segments as telecom, power grids and electronic trading in finance, where order execution and reduced latency are critical for successful business outcomes. This contribution presents Precise Network Time Monitoring (PNTM), a novel mechanism for asynchronous Ethernet packet timestamping which adapts a Digital Dual Mixer Time Difference (DDMTD) implemented in an FPGA. Picosecond-precision packet timestamping is outlined for 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Furthermore, this approach is combined with the White Rabbit (WR) synchronization protocol, used as reference for the IEEE 1588–2019 High Accuracy Profile to provide unprecedented packet capturing correlation accuracy in distributed network scenarios thanks to its sub-nanosecond time transfer. The paper presents different application examples, describes the method of implementation, integration of WR with PNTM and subsequently describes experiments to demonstrate that PNTM is a suitable picosecond-level distributed packet timestamping solution.
Highlights
Smart cities and grids, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), telecom, wireless networks, electronic trading, vehicular communications or Internet of Things (IoT) are examples of the rise in distributed synchronized networks with demanding requirements in terms of bandwidth, latency or monitoring [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].In those segments, visibility networks are critical for monitoring the performance of time sensitive applications in distributed scenarios such as an integrated facility
This paper has introduced a novel implementation of a packet timestamper called Precise Network Time Monitoring that uses phase measurements with picosecond level accuracy for systems that do not share a common time reference
It is based on a timestamping unit that includes a modified non-syntonized Digital Dual Mixer Time Difference (DDMTD) implementation using a low-cost FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA) device and works at low clock frequencies without requiring external circuitry or advanced to-Digital Converter (TDC) chips
Summary
Smart cities and grids, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), telecom, wireless networks, electronic trading, vehicular communications or Internet of Things (IoT) are examples of the rise in distributed synchronized networks with demanding requirements in terms of bandwidth, latency or monitoring [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. There are available commercial timestamping solutions in the sub-nanosecond level, the competence level and the adoption of higher Ethernet bandwidths, faster bit transmission, advise that better distributed timestamping precision in non-intrusive visibility networks will be required in the near future. Another key application where this timestamp precision is required is the metrology field. The timestamper is integrated in White Rabbit (WR) devices to validate its applicability in distributed scenarios with high accuracy time synchronization protocols
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