Conclusion

The Precision Time Protocol standardized in IEEE1588 reaches synchronization accuracy within the sub-microsecond range and has further potential for higher precision. It is suited for applications which need a time synchronization of distributed clocks of highest accuracy in a limited network domain.

Many manufacturers have already begun the development of appropriate components and have already started to evaluate their first prototypes.

For high precision in a switched Ethernet network, it is recommended to equip switches with IEEE1588 technology.

The PTP reference architecture introduced in this article tries to unite the advantages of equipment modularity and scalability.