PRECISION TIME PROTOCOL

IN MODERN NETWORKS
S L AV E N R U M E N J A K
SENIOR SOLUTION ARCHITECT

SPRING EDITION 2022

 AGENDA

PTP basics

The goal of this session is to provide an PTP clocks

understanding of PTP v2 protocol, its PTP synchronization
implementation and applicability to ALE PTP profiles
2
mission-critical networks
PTP support by ALE & Nokia
 PTP BASICS
3
 EVOLUTION OF
TIME
SYNCHRONIZATION
Smart High Voltage substation with IEC 61850 Process
Bus
Motion Control: Robotics, distributed printing
Emerging technologies Ranging systems
4 millisecond → nanosecond sync

Enables heterogeneous systems … to synchronize to a

IEEE 1588v2
grandmaster clock
IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock
Synchronization Protocol for Networked Supports system-wide synchronization accuracy in the sub-
microsecond range
Measurement and Control Systems
Permits synchronization accuracies better than 1 ns
Supporting of redundancy and security
IEEE 1588-2019 is the latest version
 PTP BASICS Ordinary node
Ordinary node
(Grandmaster) (Passive Grandmaster)

Transparent Boundary
Distributed networked system
node node
Master-Slave synchronization hierarchy

PTP nodes (clocks):

5
Grandmaster clock - determines reference time for
the system
Transparent clock – measures the time for transit the
device and provide this info to downstream nodes Ordinary node
Slave clock - adjusting their times to GMC (slave)
Boundary node – serve as the source of time and
synchronize to another clock PTP Domain PTP Domain
A B
Management node – configures and monitor clocks
Single physical network
Non-PTP devices (routers, bridges, printers…)

PTP associated with Domain (logical entity in physical

network)
 PRIMARY Onboard atomic clock
REFERENCE or
SOURCE (PRS)
GNSS SFP Sync with ground
& antenna station
A master clock for a network with
frequency accuracy 1x10-11 (Stratum 1)

6 Commercial use:
- GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite
System): GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and
BEIDOU GPSDO
- GPS Disciplined Oscillators on
premises: Atomic (Rubidium) oscillator
for short-term stability & GPS for long-
term stability

UTC/TAI - 24-h world primary time

standard UTC – Universal Coordinated Time
TAI – International Atomic Time
 PTP CLOCKS
7

OR NODES PARTICIPATING IN PRECISION TIME PROTOCOL

 WHAT IS A CLOCK?
PTP Protocol
Engine

A node participating in Precision Time Local Clock

Protocol Clock info
8 PTP engine: send and receive messages,
maintains clock and port info, synchronize to a Timestamp
Port(s)
master and computes the master’s time generation
info
Clock info: ordinary clock, synchronization,
parent and grandmaster clock
Event interface General interface
Port(s) info: attributes of the port(s)

Event (logical) interface for timestamped PTP

messages
Interface
General (logical) interface for general PTP
messages
Network
 ORDINARY
CLOCKS (OC) Source of time for clock synchronization within a
domain
Synchronized to an external source of time via GPS

A clock synchronized to master clock; it computes the

master’s time based on the received PTP timing
A clock with a single physical port into
messages
PTP domain PTP Protocol
Engine

9 Local
Clock
Clock
info

a) Grandmaster clock Timestamp

generation Port(s)
info

(master clock provides synchronization per

path) Event interface General interface

Interface

b) Slave clock Network

 BOUNDARY
Synchronized to the grandmaster clock
CLOCKS (BC)
Source of time for clock synchronization within a
domain

PTP Protocol

BC has several physical ports into PTP Engine

Port specific

domain where each port acts as port of Local Clock

Common to Clock
info

ordinary clock all ports

10 Timestamp
Port(s)
Common resources: local clock and
generation
info

clock data Event interface General interface

Ports could be in master or slave state

Interface 1 ... Interface n

PTP messages are NOT forwarded Network

through the node

 TRANSPARENT
CLOCK (TC)
END-TO-END (E2E)
Local
Port Clock
Port
2 3
Residence time bridge measures the residence
RTM RTM

time of PTP messages Residence

Residence time is difference between Event
Time
Bridge
interface
11 timesteps on ingress and egress ports General
RTM RTM

interface

Residence times are accumulated in the Timestamp

Ingress
Timestamp
Egress
Timestamp Port
generation
(tn-t1)
correctionField of PTP event message Port 1
N
Correction PTP Correction PTP
Field Header Field (New) Header
Slave clock uses this accumulated info for time
adjustment +
Timesteps are based on local clock therefore
local clock is synced to master for more
accurate results

RTM-Residence time mechanism

 TRANSPARENT
CLOCK (TC)
PEER-TO-PEER (P2P)
Local
Port Clock
Port
2 3
Additional capability of computing link delay
RTM RTM

based on PTP messages on ingress port Link

Delay Residence
Time
Event
The correction process includes residance time interface Bridge
12 RTM RTM
AND link delay General
interface
Ingress Egress
Timestamp Timestamp
Benefit (over end-to-end) of immidiate timing generation
Timestamp
(tn-t1)
Port
N
Port 1
of actual path for Slave clock Correction PTP Correction PTP
Field Header Field (New) Header

Peer-To-Peer does NOT interwork with End-to-

End due to different delay mechanisms +
Boundary clock can connect two different
regions (P2P and E2E)
 MANAGEMENT
NODE The management messages are used to query and
update the PTP data sets maintained by clocks.
Management messages are used between management
nodes and clocks

A device that configures and monitors

clocks in the network

13
 PTP SYNCHRONIZATION
14

THE STANDARD ALLOWS CLOCKS OF VARIOUS PRECISION,

RESOLUTION AND STABILITY TO SYNCHRONIZE TO A
GRANDMASTER CLOCK WITH ACCURACIES BETTER THAN
1NS
 PTP
SYNCHRONIZATION

2-step process:

1. Choose the best master

15 using Best Master Clock Algorithm
(BMCA)

2. Synchronize with the master

using either of two mechanisms Delay request-response Peer delay
“..conveying timestamps generated at the sources
OC, BC, end-to-end TC OC, BC, peer-to-peer TC
of event messages along with any corrections
needed to ensure that the recipient of the event
message receives the most accurate timestamp
possible… “
 MASTER-SLAVE Ordinary clock – grandmaster
HIERARCHY
(STEP 1)
Boundary clock

Am I the best master clock?

Which foreign master is the best master clock? Ordinary clock - slave
Simple hierarchy
Announce messages from foreign masters
16
(others than me) analyzed and compared Mesh topology
through Best Master Clock Algorithm (BMCA)

Compared values: User configurable (Priority)

and Clock attributes (stability, accuracy),
Distance when the same Announce message is
Forwarding link, not
received on multiple ports of the clock blocked by L2 or L3
loop prevention
As a result, ports are determined as: protocol
Master Pruned by PTP
Slave
Passive
 DELAY REQUEST- Master clock Slave clock
RESPONSE
SYNCHRONIZATION Sync transmitted by a
t1 Sync (t1)
(STEP 2) master to its slaves, Assigns a timestamp t2
with or without (then t2
Follow_Up) timestamp Receives t1 (Sync or
Clock offset t1 Follow Up (Preciset1)
Follow_Up)
The time error between a slave and a master
time measured at the same instant
17 t3 Requests to return the
Delay_Req
Four known timesteps at SC (t1, t2, t3, t4) are time at which this
used to compute the offset message is received
t4
Master sends
Clock offset= Delay_Resp with t4
t2 - t1 – meanPathDelay – SyncCorrectionField info as requested by Delay_Resp (t4) Receives t4
slave

Master time Slave time

Error- the computed mean differs from the
actual time due to the asymmetry (Asymmetry
Master to slave delay Slave to master delay Mean path delay
correction)
t2-t1 t4-t3 [(t2-t1)+(t4-t3)]/2
 MC E2E TC1 E2E TC2 SC
DELAY REQUEST-
RESPONSE SYNC
WITH E2E TC t1
Sync (t1) Sync
(t1 & TC1)
(STEP 2) Sync
(t1 &
TC1+TC2)
Follow Up (t1)
Clock offset= t1,TC1+TC2

t2 - t1 – meanPathDelay – SyncCorrectionField t2

18
meanPathDelay = t3
(t2-t1)+(t4-t3)-SyncCorrectionFieldTC1+TC2- Delay_Req
Delay_RespCorrectionFieldTC2’+TC1’
Delay_Req
(TC2’)
Delay_Req
Two-step clock A clock that provides time t4 (TC2’+TC1’)
information using the combination of an event
Delay_Resp
message and a subsequent general message (t4 & TC2’+TC1’) Delay_Resp
(t4 & TC2’+TC1’)
t4,TC2’+TC
Delay_Resp 1’

Note that Delay_Req correctionField is copied (t4 & TC2’+TC1’)

into Delay_Resp correctionField by MC and not

modified along the path by E2E MC
 PEER DELAY clock1 clock2
SYNCHRONIZATION
t1 Pdelay_Req
Transmitted by a PTP
port to another PTP
port to determine the t2 Assign a timestamp t2
link delay between
Measuring link propagation delay them

Peer-to-peer TC only
Pdelay_Resp (t3-t2)
19 t3 Transmitted in a
Both ports on the link measure link response to the
t3-t2
receipt of Pdelay_
delay t4 t3-t2 can be sent in:
- Pdelay_Resp
Link delay is measured even on PTP - Pdelay_Resp_Follow_Up
- both
pruned links allowing for rapid PTP Pdelay_Resp_Follow_Up
(t3-t2)
convergence in case of network
convergence time time

meanPathDelay at clock 1
on the path C1 to C2

[(t4-t1)-(t3-t2)]/2
 MC P2P TC1 P2P TC2 SC
PEER DELAY a b c
SYNCHRONIZATION Sync
WITH P2P TC t1
Sync (t1) Sync
(t1 &
(t1 & TC1+TC2
+MPDa+mPD-b)
(STEP 2) TC1+mPD-a)

t1,TC1+TC2
Follow Up +mPD-a +

Clock offset= mPD-b

+mPD-c

t2 - t1 – SyncCorrectionField t2

20
 t
ACCURACY ISSUES Master clock NET
sm
Slave clock
t ms

meanPathDelay = (t ms+t sm)/2

t ms= meanPathDelay + delayAsymmetry

t sm= meanPathDelay - delayAsymmetry
Propagation asymmetry:
messages in both directions should
traverse the same path to minimize
21
asymmetry

Protocol stack delay fluctuation:

Solution to perform timestamping in PHY
SW APP
Store-and-forward delay in network
Network Stack
elements (buffering and queuing):
solution is traffic prioritization Ethernet MAC

Accuracy of the clock generating Ethernet PHY

timestamps
Ethernet Cable
 PTP PROFILES
22

FOR SPECIFIC SELECTIONS OF ATTRIBUTE VALUES AND

OPTIONAL FEATURES OF PTP
 POWER PROFILES
IEC/IEEE 61850-9-3 Power Utility
Automation profile for use in substation
applications
23
IEEE C37.238 Power Profile
(extensions to IEC/IEEE 61850-9-3) for
Phasor Measurement Units to measure
electrical quantities in power grids
• 1 s intervals for PTP messages
• Multicast communications and Layer 2 mapping
• Peer-to-peer path delay measurement
• Steady-state performance requirements
• One-step and two-step clocks
• Default best master clock algorithm
• Local time type length value (TLV) extensions
• Accuracy: GMC 250 ns, TC 50ns, BC 200ns
• Total end-to-end network time error budget 1µs (15 TC +3 BC
max)
• Pdelay is optional for slave-only clocks (for when the delay of the
end cable is insignificant)
• IEEE_C37_238 TLV
• IEEE 1588 alternate time offset indicator (ATOI) TLV
• Mappings for IEEE C37.118 and IEC 61850 protocols (informative)
• IRIG-B replacement mode (by tightening the ATOI specifications)
• Real-time adjustments of the advertised time-quality (so IEDS
can determine if acceptable)
 TELECOM
PROFILES

ITU-T G.8265.1 • Precision time protocol telecom profile for frequency

synchronization – related to synchronization of cellular
stations
24

ITU-T G.8275.1 • Precision time protocol telecom profile for phase/time

synchronization with full timing support from the
network – required for all devices in the network

ITU-T G.8275.2
• Precision time protocol telecom profile for phase/time
synchronization with partial timing support from the
network – it uses PTP in unicast mode over IPv4 and
doesn’t require each device in the network to
participate in PTP
 PTP SUPPORT AND DESIGN BY ALE & NOKIA
25
 ALE & NOKIA
PTP SUPPORT
TC, E2E 6465, 6560, 6860, 6865, 6900-X72/Q32

TC, P2P 6560

ALE supports:

Transparent clock, end-to-end mode

26 Transparent clock, peer-to-peer mode

SAR 7705 Built-in Stratum 3 clock

MC, BC, TC, SC
Nokia supports: Power Profiles, Telecom profiles
Built-in Startum 3/3E clock SAS 7210 BC, TC, SC
Master clock Telecom profiles
Boundary clock IXR 7250 Built-in Stratum 3E
Transparent clock MC, BC, SC
Telecom profiles
Slave clock
Power profiles, Telecom profiles
 PTP DESIGN FOR
LTE NETWORK

Backhaul network

IP/MPLS

27

Access network
OS6465
OS6865

LTE Base stations

 PTP DESIGN FOR
TRANSPORTATION
Core network

IP/MPLS
Access
network
28

Edge
network

Station
network
OS6465
OS6560
THANK YOU!
 CLOCK
SYNCHRONIZATION
signal

TA

fA
Frequency PhA
Clock A
30 Skew – a difference between fA and fB
t

Phase signal

TB
Time fB
Offset – a difference between TA and TB
If (close to) zero than clock is accurate PhB
Clock B
t