with new features and extended hardware support

IXXAT’s IEEE 1588 protocol stack enables the fast and easy development of IEEE 1588 conform devices. Due to the broad functional range, continuous development and the wide distribution, IXXAT’s IEEE 1588 protocol software can be considered as the leading 1588 reference implementation.

The new release 1.04 now also supports the Intel PCI network card “Intel Ethernet Server Adapter I340-T4″ under Linux, enabling the high accurate system time synchronization on standard PCs using IEEE 1588.

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IXXAT and SoC-e offer a complete IEEE 1588 solution for Xilinx FPGAs.

IXXAT Automation and System on Chip engineering (SoC-e) Bilbao in Spain started a cooperation on IEEE 1588 in the beginning of 2011. By combining SoC-e’s IP core for Xilinx FPGAs and IXXAT’s field-proven PTP protocol software, a new powerful IEEE 1588 solution was created. SoC-e’s customers can now benefit from IXXAT’s PTP software, which is designed for highly accurate synchronization applications. The protocol software is field-proven in a wide range of applications while being comprehensively supported and maintained by IXXAT.

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for the telecommunication area and AVB networks

Many applications, in the telecommunication sector, in AVB networks as well as in the measurement and automation area, require a highly accurate time synchronization of the individual nodes in the system.

The IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP), which is offered by IXXAT as protocol software package, enables the synchronization of nodes, which are connected e.g. via Ethernet. To achieve a highly accurate synchronization in the sub-microsecond range, however, in addition to the protocol software a hardware support is required to provide a highly accurate clock and to assign time stamps to the messages.

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New features and extended hardware support

The precise time synchronization of devices in distributed applications, like measurement, telecommunication and automation systems as well as in the automotive sector, is increasingly becoming an important requirement. The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) according to IEEE 1588 meets this requirement by enabling a highly accurate synchronization of distributed devices over Ethernet down to the nanosecond range.

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Thanks to the availability of real-time extensions and low-cost components, Ethernet is increasingly used in automation and metrology. For many automation applications, exact time synchronization of controls, sensors and actuators within a network or even between several networks is vital. One possibility for this is offered by the “Precision Clock synchronization Protocol for Networked Mea-surement and Control Systems” or „Precision Time Protocol” (PTP) for short, which is defined by the IEEE standard 1588. However, the protocol only provides the basis: maximum precision for synchronization requires support from suitable hardware. The following text describes how IEEE 1588 PTP works and what hardware-based solutions are suitable for it…

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IEEE 1588-2008 PTP Software from IXXAT for STM32 MCUs

The IEEE 1588-2008 protocol software from IXXAT, which is integrated in ap-plications worldwide, now is also available for the STM32Fx07 family from STMicroelectronics. These MCUs have an integrated IEEE 1588 hardware time stamping unit which allows the highly accurate synchronization of devices in a distributed network. On this base, an accuracy in the range of nanoseconds can be achieved. Typical applications are telecommunication, power management, measurement systems (e.g. LXI), and audio/video transmission.

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New Consortium Speeds IEEE 1588 Testing

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services for the networking industry, announced that the organization will host an industry plugfest, providing participants the opportunity to perform interoperability testing of devices in compliance with the Precision Time Protocol IEEE 1588-2008 standard. The Precision Time Protocol Interoperability plugfest, which will take place September 27 – September 29 at the UNH-IOL’s 32,000+ square foot facility in Durham, N.H., will be held in association with the 2010 International IEEE Symposium on Precision Clock Synchronization (ISPCS) for Measurement, Control and Communication. The Symposium immediately follows the plugfest on September 29 – October 1 in Portsmouth, N.H., and is a forum for researchers and practitioners from industry, academia, and government involved in the area of Precision Clock Synchronization.

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The second of a series of videos from IXXAT about IEEE1588-2008 explaining synchronization problems caused by common network topology devices.

IEEE 1588 calculates the clock offset and the network delay to synchronize a device. Common network devices like hubs, switches, and routers introduce variable delays into the network that make it difficult for 1588 to synchronize the devices into the low nanoseconds. This video explains the delays introduced by these network devices, the typical synchronization degradation that is caused, and introduces some ways to overcome the problem.

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This is the first of a series of videos introducing and detailing the IEEE 1588 Timing and Synchronization Protocol.

IEEE 1588 is a network communication protocol that provides devices with the capability to synchronize their clocks over a packet based network.  This video introduces the fundamental concepts of IEEE 1588 including delay calculations, packet time stamping, and typical synchronization results.  Future videos will look deeper into these topics, providing a deeper understanding of IEEE 1588 and insight into implementation methods.

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