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Synchronization Over Ethernet Networks: Technology White Paper
Synchronization Over Ethernet Networks: Technology White Paper
W H I T E
P A P E R
Table of contents
1
1. Introduction
4. Deployment Options
5. OAM&P Aspects
13
6. Background information
7. Conclusions
21
8. Abbreviations
1. Introduction
Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most
important factor.
Hesiod, Greek didactic poet (~800 BC)
The growth in Internet usage and the increasing number of applications that demand higher bandwidth are trends that are forcing changes in todays telecommunication networks. The traditional
circuit switched networks widely deployed today were designed to support the transport of traditional
voice circuits; they are not optimal for transporting large volumes of data. Many operators are now
looking to transform their networks from the circuit switched paradigm to an IP/Ethernet paradigm,
leveraging MPLS for determinism, OAM tools, etc.
The TDM-based networks were originally used for transporting voice traffic, but later evolved to
provide for data services. To better handle data traffic, operators are migrating from these TDM-based
networks to packet-based networks. Key drivers for this migration are the commercial benefits, including
rapid service creation and delivery, together with reduced capital and operating expenses.
While packet networks (e.g., Ethernet, IP, and MPLS networks) have been optimally designed for
data services, they are now being called upon to support other services including voice transport.
Ideally, all devices will migrate to support packet interfaces, but realistically there will be a long
migration period where both the legacy and packet interfaces will need to be supported by the
packet network. Therefore, there is a continuing need to transport circuit switched (TDM) services
in addition to providing support for legacy synchronous interfaces for ATM/ML-PPP/FR/etc. Also,
some applications have evolved which rely on the traditional TDM interfaces not for their traffic
transport but for their inherent synchronization characteristics.
The most significant of these applications is the mobile base-stations use of the T1/E1 ports from
the network as accurate frequency references used to drive the RF carriers and to facilitate accurate
handovers between base-stations. These services and interfaces have stringent timing requirements to
ensure correct operation. Packet networks, however, were never required to support timing services;
as a result, network operators now must find a way to provide these timing services over the packet
infrastructure. Possible solutions range from the creation of overlay synchronization networks to the
deployment of expensive distributed reference clocks. These approaches are contrary to the original
value proposition of a packet network and, therefore, the challenge for vendors and carriers is to
adapt methods that will allow packet networks to support time-sensitive services and applications
in a cost-effective and scalable manner.
Several technologies are emerging to meet these timing needs. These range from changing the
Ethernet physical layer to provide synchronization reference distribution (along the lines of SDH
and SONET) to Timing Over Packet (ToP) techniques such as adaptive clock recovery on Circuit
Emulation Services, enhanced NTP and IEEE1588v2. The latter two technologies also address the
requirement for the distribution of highly accurate time for applications that need time-of-day or
phase accuracy.
When service providers look toward these new technologies, they need to view the transport of
timing and time1 as a network service. These services will have network planning considerations
along with OAM&P tools in order to ensure proper operation within the network.
1
ote on terminology: Within this document, and generally in the industry, the term timing is used for discussing the delivery or use
N
of a frequency. Phase is used when there is a requirement for time alignment over a relatively short (< 1 second) period of time.
Time or Time of Day is used when there is a requirement for time alignment over long periods of time (anything from a number of
seconds to years).
This document discusses these technologies and some of the service related aspects that must be
considered when planning the provision of timing and time services over Ethernet core networks.
While it is not necessary to be a expert in synchronization to follow the contents of this document,
some level of understanding of legacy synchronization networks is useful. For those who need a refresher,
Section 6 contains an overview of some of the key terms and concepts relating to network synchronization.
Primary
reference
clock
Primary
reference
clock
Synchronous Ethernet is an enhancement of a legacy Ethernet interface and includes the ability to relay
accurate timing information along with the Ethernet frames over the physical media. It is the highest
performing solution for timing over Ethernet, but may cause some issues for complete network rollout.
Several ToP techniques exist that allow for the transport of timing information without the need
for a synchronous physical layer. These include NTP, IEEE1588, and ACR.
Network Time Protocol (NTP), defined in IETF RFC 1305, has been used for many years to allow
distributed devices to synchronize with respect to Time of Day. It uses timestamps embedded in
packets to accomplish this synchronization. This protocol has been deployed in networks for over
20 years and has been proven to provide reliable time distribution to accuracies in the order of
milliseconds. This level of accuracy is often acceptable for alarm time-stamping, billing and statistics;
however, for applications like E1/T1 timing and mobile base-station phase and frequency references,
accuracies of approximately 1 microsecond are required.
IEEE1588 has, at its core, a timestamp distribution mechanism very similar to NTP. Version 1 was
targeted at time distribution over an Ethernet LAN while Version 2 adds some key capabilities to
address the distribution over the WAN environment. Both versions were designed to allow higher
accuracy time distribution than possible with NTP.
Circuit Emulation Service (CES) implementations use the constant bit rate of the TDM interfaces
to generate packets. Adaptive Clock Recovery relies on this constant rate of packet generation to
recover the original timing information. This is primarily intended to allow for the transport of the
originating E1 or T1 service clock, but if the originating interface is known to be locked to the PRC
traceable reference, CES can then be used to distribute a highly accurate timing reference.
2.1 Synchronous Ethernet
During early 2006, several European Telecom companies started an initiative within the ITU-T to
define the requirements for having the traditional Ethernet interfaces meet comparable timing
performance targets to those of SDH/SONET interfaces. They recognized that the Layer 1 relaying of
synchronization information would potentially be the most reliable form of synchronization transfer
and would not have any impact from the packet delivery load over the interface.
By deploying a network of Synchronous Ethernet interfaces, or a hybrid of SDH/SONET and
Synchronous Ethernet, the network provider can ensure the delivery of the same quality of timing
references through the network as is currently achieved using SDH/SONET only. This can then
be used for TDM services at the network edge or as a timing reference into Mobile base-stations for
carrier frequency derivation.
Synchronous Ethernet uses the physical layer of the Ethernet link to distribute the clock among nodes
in the network. In an analogous manner to SONET/SDH, each node has a local or system clock which
determines the outgoing clock rate of each interface. The system clock is derived from the incoming
clock at one of its input interfaces or from a dedicated timing interface such as a BITS port. Synchronous
Ethernet is based on the same architectural structure as SONET/SDH. It is important to note that
Synchronous Ethernet works at layer 1 and is concerned only with the precision of the timing of signal
transitions to relay and recover accurate frequencies. It is not impacted by the traffic load. For this reason,
it has been shown to have a performance equivalent to that seen in SDH/SONET networks.
Figure 2 shows a test environment created within the Alcatel-Lucent laboratories to analyze the
performance of a long chain of a total of 20 Service Routers and Service Aggregation Routers using
Synchronous Ethernet as the reference frequency distribution method. For this test, six of the devices
were deployed within a thermal chamber to introduce extreme temperature variations into the
environment. Even with this long chain and a 75 C temperature range, the timing reproduced at
the end of the network was two orders of magnitude better than the network limit as defined by the
ITU-T (see Figure 2 and Figure 3).
Monitor
2.048 MHz
E1
SynchE
7705 SAR
#1
SynchE
SynchE
7750 SR
7750 SR
#2
#3
SynchE
7705 SAR
#4
...
SynchE
SynchE
7705 SAR
7705 SAR
7705 SAR
#18
#19
#20
As indicated above, all of these ToP technologies are affected by traffic load in the network. The
key parameter that relates to the performance is the variation in the Packet Transfer Delay (PTD)
across the network or the Packet Delay Variation (PDV). Section 3 provides details on PDV. The
following sections provide an overview of the prevailing Timing and Time over packet technologies.
2.2.1. Adaptive Clock Recovery with Circuit Emulation Service
Adaptive Clock Recovery (ACR) is used in conjunction with circuit emulation services. It is intended
to ensure that the timing used to transmit the TDM data out from the packet network is tracking the
timing used to inject the TDM data into the packet network. If these two timings are not matched,
then the packet to TDM IWF will either overflow with data coming from the packet network faster
than can be transmitted or it will underrun as it transmits data faster than can be replenished from
the packet stream. This recreation of the originating TDM service timing is performed based on the
expected rate of delivery of the packets.
At the packet to TDM IWF as shown in Figure 4, adaptive methods adjust a local frequency reference to ensure that the rate of data being transmitted by the packet to TDM IWF matches the rate
of data reception at the TDM to packet IWF. This can be accomplished in multiple ways.
One well understood method is to make use of the CES jitter buffer level. This buffer is sized to accommodate the expected PDV from the network. Playout of data from this buffer starts once a threshold level
is reached. If the depth of the buffer begins to drop over time, it means that the local timing reference is
running too quickly and needs to be slowed down to match the originating service clock. Conversely, if
the buffer begins to grow, the local reference needs to be speeded up. By monitoring the level over long
periods, the effects of PDV can be averaged out and the originating service clock can be matched.
An alternate method can use the inter-arrival times of the packets. Since the packet generation
rate should be known (e.g., 1 packet per millisecond) the local frequency reference can be adjusted
to ensure that the average packet inter-arrival time is the expected duration.
Any delay variation between packets will be reflected as a variation in the short-term frequency
of the recovered clock. The trick is to set the averaging time to be long enough to remove PDV
but not so long that the local timing reference drifts due to environmental conditions.
CE
TDM
IWF
Packet switched
network
IWF
Recovered
TDM timing
based on
adaptive
clock
recovery
TDM
CE
TDM
service
clock
The adaptive clock techniques implemented in the Alcatel-Lucent Service Routers and Service
Aggregation Routers have been finely tuned to ensure optimal performance given noisy network
environments. Adaptive clock recovery can be used for both service clock recovery and, given a PRC
traceable reference at the TDM to packet IWF, for Synchronization timing distribution.
2.2.2. Differential Clock Recovery with Circuit Emulation Service
In the differential timing method, which is often referred to as Differential Clock Recovery (DCR),
both the encapsulation and de-capsulation interworking functions (IWFs) have access to a common
reference clock. DCR is used exclusively for service clock recovery. The encapsulation side inserts
a timestamp with each transmitted packet and the de-capsulation side retrieves the timestamp and
uses that as the main input parameter to the clock recovery subsystem to control the timing of the
outgoing TDM stream. ATMs Synchronous Residual Time Stamp (SRTS) is an example of this
differential timing method.
The differential timing method handles the network impairments on the PSN much better than
adaptive timing methods. This is because it does not rely directly on the arrival time of each packet
but instead uses the timestamps to control the outgoing bit rate. The issue with differential timing
is the requirement for a common timing reference to be available at both ends of the network as
shown in Figure 5.
CE
TDM
IWF
Packet switched
network
IWF
Recovered
TDM timing
based on
differential
timing
messages
Synchronization
network
Synchronization
network
PRC
PRC
TDM
CE
TDM
service
clock
The two PRCs may also originate from the same source
2.2.3. NTP
NTP has been in use since the early 1980s and continues to provide Time of Day synchronization to
devices connected over the public Internet and private Internets. It works extremely well in allowing
edge devices to be synchronized to within tens of milliseconds of UTC. It was not designed for highly
accurate frequency distribution, as is now being considered for telecommunication applications, nor
for the highly accurate phase requirements of the TDD mobile technologies. However, mated with
a high quality oscillator and using long time constants to filter PDV, NTP has been shown to meet
the target MTIE performances in lab trials and currently in some live deployments.
While the protocol is fully defined in RFC 1305, including a recovery algorithm, vendors can implement a different algorithm if desired. This may be desirable given the much more stringent performance targets of the telecom application. In addition, the message rate from a single client is usually
restricted by the NTP servers to sub 1 Hz message rates (one message per minute in locked mode
is common). This protocol was defined in order to avoid overloading servers in the public internet
environment while still allowing millisecond accuracies using low cost TCXO technology as the
core of the recovery algorithm. For private internets, the message rate can be increased to allow for
more accuracy.
The protocol uses four timestamps: two from the server and two from the client. Using these four
timestamps, and assuming symmetric delays in the server-to-client and client-to-server directions,
the client can synchronize its time of day to that of the server. The PDV is averaged out by using
many sets of timestamps.
While the protocol was designed to synchronize a clients time of day with that of the server, it can
also be used for frequency-only synchronization.
Generally speaking, the assumption of symmetric delay does not create a problem for frequency
recovery, but it can be a significant factor for highly accurate time of day and phase recovery.
The timing industry needs to study this aspect in more detail to ensure that accuracies in the low
microseconds can be maintained across an entire network.
Alcatel-Lucent Service Routers currently use NTP and SNTP to distribute and recover time of day
for management purposes.
2.2.4. IEEE1588v2
IEEE1588v2 and its Precision Time Protocol (PTP) message exchange is another mechanism that
can be used to synchronize time and timing within a network2. Version 1 of this standard is currently
being used in the LAN environment of industrial manufacturing. It uses a very similar concept
of time-stamped packets between master and slave network elements to NTP but includes some
enhancements such as higher packet rate and hardware-based time-stamping to improve on the
accuracies of the recovered time. IEEE1588v1 has demonstrated accuracies in the one microsecond
range in the LAN environment. However, when applied to the noisier WAN environment, it cannot
guarantee this performance. Version 2 was created to try to address this noisier environment.
Two significant concepts within IEEE1588v2 are the boundary clock and the transparent clock. The
boundary clock is a device which has at least one slave port recovering timing/time from an upstream
master and it then uses this recovered timing/time as a basis for one or more master ports toward
downstream slave ports. The boundary clock can then be used both for scaling purposes and as
an intermediate device to break up the PDV between the grandmaster and the slave devices. The
transparent clock is a device that participates in IEEE1588v2 but does not perform any timing/time
recovery. The transparent clock measures the residence time of each PTP message as the message
transits the node and updates the message with this residence time. Since most of the PDV is caused
by queuing within the nodes, the transparent clock can remove this unknown. If every device between
the master port and the slave port performs as a transparent clock, then the actual transit time for
each message can be measured and corrected. In an ideal IEEE1588v2 network, every device along
the path from the Grandmaster clock to the slave clock is IEEE1588v2 aware and acts as a
boundary or transparent clock. However, many implementations have been developed that can meet
the performance targets in environments where there are a number of non-IEEE1588v2-aware devices
between the master and slave clocks.
T he terms IEEE1588, 1588, and PTP have been used relatively interchangeably within the industry. However, PTP is the messaging
protocol, and IEEE1588 is the standard that defines this protocol and its use within the network. Within this document the term
IEEE1588v1 refers to the standard as specified in IEEE Std 1588 TM -2002 and the term IEEE1588v2 refers to the standard as specified
in IEEE Std 1588 TM -2008
This mechanism works well in environments where there are some packets which transit the network without experiencing any queuing. These packets then have a consistent network transit time.
By using only these packets as input to the phased-locked loop (PLL) portion of the clock recovery
algorithm, the local frequency can be tuned to match that used at the packet origination point (i.e.,
the TDM to packet CES IWF point). The ACR implementation on the Alcatel-Lucent Service Routers includes metrics on both the consistency of the packet filtering and the stability of the PLL. Over
time, thresholds will be defined to provide alarms when the recovered clock stability is indicating that
the performance targets are at risk.
3.2. Packet transfer delay variation examples
For illustrative purposes, Figures 6 to 8 show some end-to-end packet transfer delay (PTD) data from
testing across a network of AlcatelFigure 6. PTD Histogram for 4-node network with 80% aggregate
Lucent Service Routers. The PDV is
the variation of this PTD.
Figure 6 shows the histogram of the
PTD experienced by circuit emulation
traffic through a four-node network
at 80% loading. Figure 7 shows the
histogram of the PTD for an eight-node
network that was loaded to 20%
capacity. The important element of
the histogram for the minimally
delayed packets is the relative height
of the left-most point. This provides
an indication of the consistency of
the minimal delay that will be seen
by the filtering. The test result for the
eight-node network shows a strong
component on the left of the data.
This translates as a high probability
that in one filtering period there will
be a packet with a minimal PTD so
the clock recovery will work very well.
The four-node 80% test result shows a
much weaker component on the left
of the data. This means that there will
be a much lower probability that in
one filtering period there will be a
packet with a minimal PTD. Minimal
delay packet filtering algorithms will
not perform as well in the four-node
test network as in the eight-node test
network. This shows that loading is
a significant factor in PDV and the
resulting ToP performance.
Figure 7. PTD Histogram for 8-node network with 20% aggregate traffic
4. Deployment Options
4.1 Leased line replacement
An Ethernet network can provide traditional E1/T1 interfaces and perform circuit emulation
across the network. This configuration could replace the traditional leased E1/T1 services offered
by wireline carriers. In this deployment, the Circuit Emulation Service (CES) must meet the same
performance characteristics of the SDH/SONET transport networks. The principle concern is the
transport of the E1/T1 bits from one location to another. This means that support for service clock
transport is required. This service clock transport support can be provided using either an ACR or
DCR timing method with the CES.
When access to a traditional synchronization distribution network with BITS devices is available,
then the preferred clock recovery technique is DCR (as it is immune to PDV). If such a distribution
network was not available, then the option is to either use DCR on the E1/T1 circuits along with a
dedicated ToP technique to distribute the common reference or to use ACR on the individual
E1/T1 circuits
4.2 Rollout of Synchronous Ethernet
4.2.1. SyncE SDH interop
If a network provider is providing Ethernet ports on a SDH/SONET backbone, then there is likely to
be an option to upgrade only the Ethernet interface modules from legacy Ethernet to Synchronous
Ethernet capabilities. The SDH/SONET equipment will already support a clock architecture conformant to the SDH/SONET requirements and should be able to operate in Hybrid mode between
SDH/SONET synchronization distribution and Synchronous Ethernet distribution. In this environment, the Synchronous Ethernet interfaces can be rolled out only where needed at the network
edge. This allows for a phased transition from the SONET/SDH network over to an all Synchronous
Ethernet backbone while providing immediate support of Synchronous Ethernet services at the
network edge.
10
SONET
network
Primary
reference
clock
Legacy
Ethernet network
Legacy
Ethernet network
The ToP technologies have to be concerned with the PDV between the timing master and the timing
slave points. Using SyncE as the synchronization distribution technique over the core links (and
then ToP only over the last mile links) can be a cost-effective deployment option while ensuring
performance is maintained. This scenario is depicted in figure 11.
Since traffic loading is lower at the network edge than near the core hub, the smaller number of core
links can be upgraded to Synchronous Ethernet. This avoids the high PDV that can occur when the
links are run with high loading, while at the network edge ToP can maintain performance when there
are fewer links and lower loading. As there are many more links at the network edge and usually multiple
transmission technologies, this permits a cost-effective and consistent solution over the last mile.
11
Cell site
access
BTS/NodeB
Cell
site gateway
Aggregation
network
Access
aggregator
(Optical synchronous
Ethernet)
Mobile
aggregation
site gateway
Core
network
BSC/RNC
12
5. OAM&P Aspects
As Synchronous Ethernet interfaces roll out in a network and are used for Synchronization distribution, the methods and procedures developed by the SONET/SDH timing experts in operation
of the distribution network will be relevant to the new environment. New capabilities unlocked by
enhancements to the SSM of Synchronous Ethernet will become available to assist and expand on
the management of the distribution network. These capabilities can be integrated into dedicated
management systems or incorporated as subsystems within the overall service management agents
of the network. The intention will be to develop a comprehensive system to allow for the analysis
of the distribution network to look for optimizations and analyze network scenarios.
In the case of the newer concept of ToP, there is an even greater requirement for management capabilities to control and monitor the performance. These capabilities start in the clock recovery slaves
that run in the edge devices but also apply to the management of the timing masters and the delivery paths between the masters and slaves. The implementations within the slaves should be capable
of indicating some level of confidence in the accuracy and stability of the recovered timing and time
of day. This will have to be based on the stability of the output of the PDV filtering algorithm. If the
algorithm is having trouble generating a consistent output, then this will be reflected in variations
of the recovered frequency. Since this situation will be impacted by network loading, this needs to
be monitored on a constant basis and indication given when stability drops. These indications can
then be correlated to changes in network conditions, and corrective action can be performed in
order to reduce the variability seen by the slave.
These OAM&P capabilities need to be included in the solutions as they are provided. The
Alcatel-Lucent Service Routers ACR implementation includes an inherent performance monitoring
capability along the lines described above. A network manager can monitor performance and run
statistical collection continuously, or on demand, to investigate network characteristics and performance.
6. Background information
6.1 Timing distribution and clock hierarchy
In ideal deployments, all network elements derive timing from one single master clock, usually a
Primary Reference Clock (PRC). The timing from that clock is relayed throughout the network
using the hierarchical distribution defined by ITU-T and Telcordia. In this mode, all clocks will be
able to maintain the same long term frequency and will just add some level of short term frequency
deviation around this centre frequency (see metrics section below). If some segment of the network
temporarily loses its traceability to the one central clock, then the long term frequency of that segment may start to drift from the central clocks frequency and this may begin to cause slips when
the two different timing domains are crossed. The timing characteristics of the central PRC as
well as those of the network element and BITS clocks have been specified within the series of
recommendations G.811, G.812, and G.813. The ITU-T also ran simulation models to define the
worst case limits of short term noise that can be experienced on an end-to-end connection across
the entire network composed of these clocks. These limits are covered in the G.823/824/825 series
of recommendations along with the maximum deployment model as shown in Figure 12. These
limits derived from the worst-case network clock distribution coupled with a series of SDH/SONET
network elements pointer adjustments, and the E1/T1 encapsulation and de-capsulation.
13
G.812
type I
G.812
type I
G.813
option 1
G.813
option 1
G.813
option 1
G.813
option 1
G.813
option 1
G.813
option 1
G.812
type I
G.812
type I
G.812
type I
G.813
option 1
G.813
option 1
Number of
G.812 type I
clocks 10
Number of
G.813 option 1
clocks 20
G.813
option 1
Total number of
G.813 clocks in a
synchronization trail
should not exceed 60.
In a similar fashion, the limit for the new Synchronous Ethernet-based clock has been provided in
recommendation G.8262.
Work is ongoing at the ITU-T on the deployment models and clock limits for Timing Over Packets
techniques within the recommendations G.8261, G.8263, G.8264, and G.8265.
While using a single clock as the timing source for the entire network is ideal, it may be operationally
impractical. In practice, networks will often run with multiple PRC clocks. This configuration is
termed plesiochronous operation and is acceptable since the PRCs are so highly accurate that the
worst-case slip rate when using two separate PRCs is one slip every 72 days (see Table 1 for clock
hierarchy).
14
Free-run Accuracy
Holdover Stability
Pull-in / Hold-in
Range
Wander Filtering
Phase Transient
(Re-arrangement)
1 (PRS)
G.811 (PRC)
1 x 10-11
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
G.812 Type II
0.016 ppm
1 x 10
0.016 ppm
0.001 Hz
Not Defined
G.812 Type I
Not defined
2.7 x 10 /day
0.01 ppm
0.003 Hz
MTIE < 1 s
3E
4.6 ppm
1.2 x 10-8
4.6 ppm
0.001 Hz
-10
/day
-9
G.812 Type IV
4.6 ppm
3.7 x 10-7
3 Hz
MTIE < 1 s
Phase slope 61 s/s
Objective: MTIE
< 150 ns
Phase slope 885 ns/s
Not Defined
G.813 Option 1
4.6 ppm
2 x 10-6 /day
4.6 ppm
1 Hz
MTIE < 1 s
SMC
G.813 Option 2
20 ppm
4.6 x 10
0.1 Hz
MTIE < 1 s
-6
Objective: MTIE
< 150 ns
Phase slope 885 ns/s
Not defined
32 ppm
NA
32 ppm
None
No requirement
15
Digital
switch
E1 TDM
Packet
network
E1 TDM
Digital
switch
Since the TDM data is being received at the ingress CES IWF at a constant rate, the packets will
be generated into the packet network at a constant rate. At the egress CES IWF, the transmission
rate of the TDM data must match the rate of reception at ingress or data overrun or underrun will
occur. The transport and re-creation of the clock from the ingress port to the egress port over CES
is referred to as service clock transport.
16
F or the remainder of the document, the term PDH will be used to cover both European PDH and North American /Japanese PDH.
Digital
switch
E1 ATM
Packet
network
E1 ATM
Digital
switch
T he worst-case frequency difference between two PRCs is 0.02 parts per billion. This leads to an accumulated phase difference of
125 us after 72 days.
17
In the case of CES IWF, the buffering requirements from the retiming are on the order of tens of
microseconds and are easily covered by the normal millisecond range buffering capability built into
most CES services at network egress.
6.7 Oscillator Stability and PLL
Most clock recovery circuitry makes use of Phase-Locked Loop (PLLs). In a PLL, there is either a
Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) or a Digitally Controlled Oscillator (DCO) that is adjusting
a reference provided by a crystal oscillator in order to ensure that the phase error between the adjusted
frequency and the reference frequency is minimized. This technology is impacted by both the stability
of the input reference and the stability of the frequency output by the crystal oscillator. If the crystal
oscillator is of high quality, the DPLL can be configured to trust the local oscillator more and adjust
slowly to differences seen with the reference frequency. If the crystal oscillator is lower quality, then
the DPLL should not rely on it and should adjust more quickly to differences seen with the reference
frequency. The key parameter for this quality designation is the oscillators frequency stability. When
dealing with ToP solutions where the short term stability of the reference frequency will be questionable
due to the level of PDV, it is preferable to use a highly stable oscillator to allow the DPLL to filter out
short term variations in the reference frequency and look at the longer term average frequency. In
general, an Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) is suggested for these solutions.
6.8 Performance Metrics
When analyzing signals for their timing accuracy and stability, the preferred metric is the Time
Error (TE). This metric is a measurement of the time between the occurrence of a significant event
in a reference signal and the occurrence of the same significant event in a test signal. This significant event is usually declared when the signal crosses a threshold in one direction. For example, it
could be when a sinusoidal signal transitions from positive to negative values or when a TTL signal
crosses +100mV in the positive direction. Figure 15 shows two E1 signals where the significant event
is the crossing of a threshold set at half the height of the positive excursion of an E1 signal. As can
be seen, this crossing does not occur at exactly the same time for both signals. The difference is the
TE. When an entire series of Time Errors is collected, then they may be processed into several other
metrics including the Maximum Time Interval Error (MTIE), Fractional Frequency Offset (FFO),
Time Deviation (TDEV), Allan Variance (ADEV), and many more. The most common metric
discussed in relation to the performance requirements is the MTIE. This metric uses the Time
Interval Error, which is simply the difference in Time Error for a given interval and then the MTIE
is the worst-case TE for any interval within a fixed observation window at any point in the measurement time (see Figure 16). MTIE limits were defined to provide performance targets for individual
network nodes and also network spans to ensure that slip buffers at international gateways had
controlled slip rates.
18
Ref
Threshold
Signal
Threshold
MTIE(S)
TIE(S)
Time
Observation time
Measurement time
295 Hz
340 Hz
591 Hz /A
Macro
Base-station accuracy
(0.05ppm)
45 Hz
90 Hz
105 Hz
Base-station accuracy
(0.1ppm)
90 Hz
80 Hz
210 Hz
Femto
Traditionally, base-stations achieve this frequency accuracy with one of three options:
a highly accurate free-running oscillator that is calibrated on a periodic basis (several months)
a local oscillator tuned to an input from a GPS receiver
a local oscillator tuned to an E1 or T1 input
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The GPS option is the only viable option for mobile technologies using TDD since, in addition to
the frequency accuracy, there is a phase accuracy requirement that cannot be met using the E1/T1s.
For FDD systems, it is much more common for the backhaul E1/T1s to be used. These interfaces
must have timing that:
Is traceable back to a PRC/PRS to ensure long term frequency accuracy of 0.01 ppb
Has a known limit to the amount of jitter and wander in relation to the PRC/PRS
With these two requirements met, the base-station clock regenerator can filter the signal presented
on the T1 or E1 interface in order to meet the requisite targets. The length of time for this filtering
depends primarily on the quality of the oscillator used within the base-station clock regenerator. If
a highly stable oscillator is incorporated into the base-station clock, then an E1/T1 that only meets
the limits of a Traffic Interface as defined in G.823/824 can be used at the input to the base-station.
If a more cost-effective base-station clock design is used, then the E1/T1 must be more stable and
must meet the limits of one of the Synchronization Interfaces defined in G.823/824.
The 3GPP specification does not specify which of the Traffic or Synchronization Interface limits
applies; consequently, both types of base-stations exist in practice.
Table 3 shows the length of time a given signal needs to be filtered to ensure it meets the frequency
accuracy requirements. The 50 ppb target is often stated as a target but is really the target for the
output of the base-station clock. In order to meet this on its output, the input may have to be more
accurate. A common conversion is to target 16 ppb to allow for noise in the clock circuitry. The real
requirement for a given base-station will be somewhere in between these two values.
350 s
1150 s
85 s
280 s
40 s
130 s
170 s
510 s
42 s
134 s
5.2 s
23 s
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7. Conclusions
Synchronization is as fundamental to network operation as power and grounding. It is a basic requirement
in a network of any scope so that disparate elements may work co-operatively to correctly transfer
traffic between user equipment. Nowhere is this truer than in a mobile (wireless) network. A lack of
accurate synchronization can negatively impact the user quality of experience via failed handovers,
dropped calls and data retransmissions. In turn, this can lead to reduced customer loyalty or increased
customer churn the bane of any operator.
Traditionally, synchronization has been distributed over the SDH/SONET network and via T1/E1
connections to remote cell sites and also via satellite systems. These techniques will persist in some
cases. With the advent of the massive transformation of many carrier networks to cost-efficient,
scalable and service-rich All-IP network architectures over Ethernet media, new techniques for timing
distribution have come to the fore. Techniques (such as Synchronous Ethernet) and ToP capabilities
(such as Adaptive Clock Recovery and IEEE1588v2) can be used to ensure reliable network operation
through this transformation.
Alcatel-Lucent has been engaged in the research and engineering of synchronization solutions for
several decades with deep research and development capabilities and considerable practical deployment experience. In many IP transformation projects worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent is bringing a powerful
combination of strong network and management products, comprehensive consulting services, and
synchronization knowledge to facilitate successful project completion.
8. Abbreviations
ACR
PDV
ATM
PLL
Phase-locked Loop
BITS
POS
BSC
Base-Station Controller
PPB
BTS
PRC
CES
PSN
DCR
PTD
DSL
PW
Pseudo-wire
FDD
QoS
Quality of Service
FLL
Frequency-locked Loop
RAN
GPON
RNC
GPS
RTP
GSM
SDH
GSM
SONET
IP
Internet Protocol
SRTS
IWF
Interworking Function
TCXO
LAN
Local-area network
TDEV
Time Deviation
MAFE
TDD
MPLS
TDM
Time-Division Multiplexing
MTIE
ToD
Time of Day
MTSO
ToP
NTP
UMTS
NTR
UTC
WAN
Wide-area Network
OCXO
WCDMA
PDH
WDM
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