On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 5:12 AM, Andrew Gallo <akg1330@gmail.com> wrote:
On 3/6/2017 3:55 AM, Majdi S. Abbas wrote:
On Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 04:59:53AM -0800, Hal Murray wrote:
Any suggestions for gear and/or software that works with WWV (or CHU)? Or general suggestions for non GPS sources of time?
Hey Hal!
In North America, WWV and CHU are pretty much it for accessible backups these days. Unfortunately time and frequency distribution is a niche that tends to get neglected (if not actively gutted) in US budgets.
Agreed, but I'll share this- the recent FCC CSRIC V had a working group (4B) that studied the reliability of time and frequency distribution. https://www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/advisory-committees/communications-security-re...
It may be of interest.
Specifically, the "Network Timing Single Source Risk Reduction - Final Report" part: https://transition.fcc.gov/bureaus/pshs/advisory/csric5/WG4B_FinalReport_122... My summary of its points: * Analysis of vulnerabilities in the "supply chain" of GPS * Assertion that GPS mitigations and alternatives are needed to reduce risk * Some likely characteristics of good mitigations and alternatives * A list of potential alternatives, their features, and their current state (L2C & L5 GPS, Galileo & GLONASS, LEO satelltes, commercial RF, antenna pattern optimization, NMA on L2C, sync over fiber, eLORAN, other RF sync, terrestrial beacons, and hybrid DME)
From the executive summary:
The U.S. communications sector relies heavily on the Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide network time. GPS is a widely available, extremely precise timing source that is used across multiple infrastructure sectors. However, given the high dependence of the communications sector on GPS, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) is interested in identifying ways to increase the resilience of communications networks by exploring complementary or backup solutions that could be employed to offer similar time precision as GPS in the event that GPS signals are lost. These solutions also need to be completely independent of GPS to significantly reduce any risk. This report addresses the problems associated with relying on GPS solutions, the ideal technical characteristics for systems to backup or supplement GPS, and our recommendations for possible backup solutions by the communications industry and others reliant on communications network timing sources. Royce