Category: chronology

Next Generation of Accurate Atomic Clocks Starts Ticking as NIST scientists unveil new strontium clock

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Those chronological pioneers at NIST have teamed up with the University of Colorado and have developed the world’s most accurate atomic clock to date. The strontium based clock is nearly twice as accurate as the current caesium clocks used to govern UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) as it loses just a second every 300 million years.

Strontium based atomic clocks are now being seen as the way forward in timekeeping as higher levels of accuracy are attainable that are just not possible with the caesium atom. Strontium clocks, like their predecessors work by harnessing the natural yet highly consistent vibration of atoms.

However, these new generations of clocks use laser beams and extremely low temperatures close to absolute zero to control the atoms and it is hoped it is a step forward to creating a perfectly precise clock.

This extreme accuracy may seem a step too far and unnecessary but the uses for such precision are many fold and when you consider the technologies that have been developed that are based on the first generation of atomic clocks such as GPS navigation, NTP server synchronisation and digital broadcasting a new world of exciting technology based on these new clocks could just be around the corner.

While currently the world’s global timescale, UTC, is based on the time told by a constellation of caesium clocks (and incidentally so is t he definition of a second as just over 9 billion caesium ticks), it is thought that when the Consultative Committee for Time and Frequency at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) next meets it will discuss whether to make these next generation of atomic clocks the new standard.

However, strontium clocks are not the only method of highly precise time. Last year a quantum clock, also developed at NIST managed accuracy of 1 second in 1 billion years. However, this type of clock can’t be directly monitored and requires a more complex scheme to monitor the time.

Keeping Accurate Time and The Importance of a Network Time Server

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A network time server can be one of the most crucial devices on a computer network as timestamps are vital for most computer applications from sending and email to debugging a network.

Tiny inaccuracies in a timestamp can cause havoc on a network, from emails arriving before they have technically been sent, to leaving an entire system vulnerable to security threats and even fraud.

However, a network time server is only as good as the time source that it synchronises to. Many network administrators opt to receive a timing code from the Internet, however, many Internet time sources are wholly inaccurate and often too far away from a client to provide any real accuracy.

Furthermore, Internet based time sources can’t be authenticated. Authentication is  a security measure used by NTP (Network Time Protocol which controls the network time server) to ensure the time server is exactly what it says it is).

To ensure accurate time is kept it is vital to select a time source that is both secure and accurate. There are two methods which can ensure a millisecond accuracy toUTC (coordinated universal time – a global timescale based on the time told by atomic clocks).

The first is to use a specialist national time and frequency transmission broadcast in several countries including the UK, USA, Germany, France and Japan. Unfortunately these broadcasts can’t be picked up everywhere but the second method is to use the timing signal broadcast by the GPS network which is available literally everywhere on the face of the planet.

A network time server will use this timing code and synchronise an entire network to it using NTP which is why they are often referred to as a NTP server or NTP time server. NTP continually adjusts the network’s clocks ensuring there is no drift.

Finding the Time

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Finding out what the time is, is something we all take for granted. Clocks are everywhere and a glance at a wristwatch, clock tower, computer screen or even a microwave will tell us what the time is. However, telling the time has not always been that easy.

Clocks didn’t arrive until the middle ages and their accuracy was incredibly poor. True time telling accuracy didn’t arrive until after the arrival of the electronic clock in the nineteenth century. However, many of the modern technologies and applications that we take for granted in the modern world such as satellite navigation, air traffic control and internet trading require a precision and accuracy that far exceeds an electronic clock.

Atomic clocks are by far the most accurate time telling devices. They are so accurate that the world’s global timescale that is based on them (Coordinated Universal Time) has to be occasionally adjusted to account for the slowing of the Earth’s rotation. These adjustments take the form of additional seconds known as leap seconds.

Atomic clock accuracy is so precise that not even a second of time is lost in over a million years whilst an electronic clock by comparison will lose a second in a week.

But is this accuracy really necessary? When you look at technologies such as global positioning then the answer is yes. Satellite navigation systems like GPS work by triangulating time signals generated by atomic clocks onboard the satellites. As these signals are transmitted at the speed of light they travel nearly 100,000 k m each second. Any inaccuracy in the clock by even a thousandth of a second could see the positioning information out by miles.

Computer networks that have to communicate with each other across the globe have to ensure they are running not just accurate time but also are synchronised with each other. Any transactions conducted on networks without synchronisation can result in all sorts of errors.

Fort his reason computer networks use NTP (Network Time Protocol) and network time servers often referred to as an NTP server. These devices receive a timing signal from an atomic clock and distribute it amongst a network in doing so a network is ensured to be as accurate and precise as possible.

The Importance of the Atomic Clock

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Most people have vaguely heard of the atomic clock and presume they know what one is but very few people know just how important atomic clocks are for the running of our day to day lives in the twenty first century.

There are so many technologies that are reliant on atomic clocks and without many of the tasks we take for granted would be impossible. Air traffic control, satellite navigation and internet trading are just a few of the applications that are reliant on the ultra precise chronometry of an atomic clock.

Exactly what an atomic clock is, is often misunderstood. In simple terms an atomic clock is a device that uses the oscillations of atoms at different energy states to count ticks between seconds. Currently caesium is the preferred atom because it has over 9 billion ticks every second and because these oscillations never change it makes them a highly accurate method of keeping time.

Atomic clocks despite what many people claim are only ever found in large scale physics laboratories such as NPL (UK National Physical Laboratory) and NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Time). Often people suggest they have an atomic clock that controls their computer network or that they have an atomic clock on their wall. This is not true and what people are referring to is that they have a clock or time server that receives the time from an atomic clock.

Devices like the NTP time server often receive atomic clock signals form places such as NIST or NPL via long wave radio. Another method for receiving time from atomic clocks is using the GPS network (Global Positioning System).

The GPS network and satellite navigation are in fact a good example of why atomic clock synchonization is much needed with such high level of accuracy. Modern atomic clocks such as those found at NIST, NPL and inside orbiting GPS satellites are accurate to within a second every 100 million years or so. This accuracy is crucial when you examine how something like a cars GPS satellite navigation system works.

A GPS system works by triangulating the time signals sent from three or more separate GPS satellites and their onboard atomic clocks. Because these signals travel at the speed of light (nearly 100,000km a second) an inaccuracy of even one whole millisecond could put the navigational information out by 100 kilometres.

This high level of accuracy is also required for technologies such as air traffic control ensuring our crowded skies remain safe and is even critical for many Internet transactions such as trading in derivatives where the value can rise and fall every second.

Useful NTP server related resources

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NTP homepage–  The home for the NTP Project who provides support and additional development resources for the Official Reference Implementation of NTP.

NTP Project support pages

THE NTP pool – list of public servers

NPL – The National Physical Laboratory in the UK who control the MSF radio signal.

The University of Delaware and David Mills’ information page, Professor Mills is the original inventor and developer of NTP

David Mills’ list of Public NTP Time Servers a list of public NTP servers

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) who operate the USA’s WWVB radio signal

Europe’s largest supplier of NTP server related products.

Galleon UK – NTP server products for the UK

NTP Time Server .com  – one of the largest time and frequency suppliers in the United States

NTP – Wikipedia article on NTP

NTP server checker – free tool to ensure time server accuracy

Does My Business Need Accurate Time Synchronisation Five question (part 1)

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Time synchronisation can be crucial for many computer networks. Correct synchronisation can protect a system from all sorts of security threats it will also ensure that the network is accurate and reliable but are dedicated NTP time server systems really necessary or can a network be run securely without a network time server?

Here are five questions to ask yourself to see if your network needs to be adequately synchronised.

1.  Does your network conduct time sensitive transactions across the internet?

If yes then accurate network time synchronisation is essential. Time is the only point of reference a computer has to identify two events so when it comes to a transaction across the internet such as sending an email, if it comes from an unsynchronised network, it may arrive before it was technically sent. This may lead to the email not being received as a computer cannot handle negative values when it comes to time.

2. Do you store valuable data?

Data loss is another ramification of not having a synchronised network. When a computer stores data it is stamped with the time. If that time is from an unsynchronised machine on a network then a computer may consider the data already saved or it may overwrite new data with older versions.

3. Is security important to your business and network?

Keeping a network secure is essential if you have any sensitive data on the machines. Malicious users have a myriad of ways of gaining access to computer networks and using the chaos caused by an unsynchronised network is one method they frequently take advantage of. Not having a synchronised network may mean it is impossible to identify if your network has been hacked into too as all records left on log files are time reliant too.

Selecting a Time Source for a Network Time Server

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UTC – Coordinated Universal Time (from the French: Universel Temps Coordonné) is a global timescale based on Greenwich Meantime (GMT – from the Greenwich Meridian line where the sun is above at 12 noon). But accounts for the natural slowing of the Earth’s rotation. It is used globally in commerce, computer networks via a NTP server, air-traffic control and the World’s stock exchanges to name but a few of its applications.

UTC is really the only solution for time synchronisation needs. While it is just as possible to synchronise a computer network with an NTP server to a time other than UTC it is pointless. As UTC is utilised by computer networks all across the globe by using a UTC time source that means your network can synchronise with every other network in the world that is synchronised to UTC.

UTC is most commonly received from across the Internet, however, this can only be recommended for small network users where either accuracy or security is an issue. An Internet based UTC source is external to the firewall so will leave a potential hole for malicious users to exploit.

Two secure methods of receiving UTC are commonly available. These are either the GPS network (Global Positioning System) or specialist radio transmission broadcast on long wave from several of the world’s national physics laboratories. The two methods have both advantages and disadvantages which need to be ascertained before a method is selected.

A radio transmission such as the UK’s MSF, the German DCF-77 or the USA’s WWVB signal are vulnerable to local topography although many of these signals can be picked up indoors. Whilst not every country transmits a UTC radio signal around the neighbouring countries that do it is possible to still receive it.

GPS on the other hand is available literally anywhere on the globe. The signal comes directly from above and as long as the antenna has a good clear view of the sky it can be received anywhere. However, as the antenna has to be on a roof looking up this can have logistical problems (particularly for very tall buildings).

Specialist dedicated network time servers are available that can actually receive both methods of UTC but whether using GPS or a radio transmissions synchronisation of a network to within a few milliseconds is possible.

(UTC) Coordinated Universal Time is The only time you will ever need to know

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We may think of their being only one time and therefore one timescale. Sure, we’re all aware of time zones where the clock has to be pushed back an hour but we all obey the same time surely?

Well actually we don’t. There are numerous different timescales all developed for different reasons are too numerous to mention them all but it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the idea of a single timescale, used y everybody came into effect.

It was the advent of the railway that provoked the first national timescale in the UK (Railway time) before then people would use noon as a basis for time and set their clocks to it. It rarely mattered if your watch was five minutes faster than your neighbours but the invention of the trains and the railway timetable soon changed all that.

The railway timetable was only useful if people all used the same time scale. A train leaving at 10.am would be missed if a watch was five minutes slow so synchronisation of time became a new obsession.

Following railway time a more global timescale was developed GMT (Greenwich Meantime) which was based on the Sun’s position at noon which fell over the Greenwich Meridian line (0 degrees longitude). It was decided during a world conference in 1884 that a single world meridian should replace the numerous one’s already in existence. London was perhaps the most successful city in the world so it was decided the best place for it.

GMT allowed the entire world to synchronise to the same time and while nations altered their clocks to adjust for time-zones their time was always based on GMT.

GMT proved a successful development and remained the world’s global timescale until the 1970’s. By then that atomic clock had been developed and it was discovered in the use of these devices that Earth’s rotation wasn’t a reliable measure to base our time on as it actually alters day by day (albeit by fractions of a second).

Because of this a new timescale was developed called UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). UTC is based on GMT but allows for the slowing of the Earth’s rotation by adding additional ‘Leap Seconds’ to ensure that Noon remains on the Greenwich Meridian.

UTC is now used all over the World and is essential for applications such as air traffic control, satellite navigation and the Internet. In fact computer networks across the globe are synchronised to UTC using NTP time servers (Network Time Protocol). UTC is governed by a constellation of atomic clocks controlled by national physics laboratories such as NIST (National Institute of Standards and Time) and the UK’s NPL.

Five Reasons Why Your Business Needs an NTP Server (Part 2)

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3. Security Breaches:

When networks are not synchronised log files are not recorded properly or in the right order which means that hackers and malicious users can breach security unnoticed. Many security software programs are also reliant on timestamps with anti-virus updates failing to happen or scheduled tasks falling behind. If your network controls time-sensitive transactions then this can even result in fraud if there is a lack of synchronisation.

4. Legal Vulnerability:

Time is not just used by computers to order events it is used in the legal world too. Contracts, receipts, proof-of-purchase are all reliant on time. If a network is not synchronised then it becomes difficult to prove when transactions actually took place and it will prove difficult to audit them. Furthermore, when it comes to serious matters such as fraud or other criminality a dedicated NTP server or other network time server device synchronised to UTC is legally auditable, its time can not be argued with!

5. Company Credibility:

Succumbing to any of these potential hazards can not just have devastating effects on your own business but also that of your clients and suppliers too. And the business grapevine being what it is any potential failing on your part will soon become common knowledge amongst your competitors, customers and suppliers and be seen as bad business practices.

Running a synchronised network adhering to UTC is not difficult. Many network administrators think that synchronisation just means an occasional time request to an online NTP time source; however, doing so will leave a system just as vulnerable to fraud and malicious users as having no synchronisation. This is because to use an Internet time source would require leaving a permanent port open in the firewall.

The solution is to use a dedicated NTP time server that receives a UTC time source from either a radio transmission (broadcast by national physics laboratories) or the GPS network (Global Positioning System). These are secure and can keep a network running to within a few milliseconds of UTC.

Five Reasons Why Your Business Needs an NTP Server (Part 1)

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Most businesses these days rely on a computer network. Computers in most organisations conduct thousands of tasks a second, from controlling production lines; ordering stock; preparing financial records and communicating with computers on other networks – often from the other side of the world.

Computers use just one thing to keep track of all these tasks: time. Timestamps are the computers only reference for when an event or task occurs in relation to other events. They receive time in the form of timestamps and they measure time in periods of milliseconds (thousandth of a second) as they may conduct hundreds of processes each second.

A global timescale known as UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) has been developed to ensure computers from different organisations all over the world can synchronise together. So what happens if the clocks on computers don’t coincide with each other or with UTC?

The consequences of running a network with computers that are not synchronised can be disastrous. Here are five reasons why all businesses need adequate network synchronisation using a NTP server (Network Time Protocol) or other network time server device.

1. Tasks fail to happen:

When computers are running at different times, events on different machines can fail to happen as often a PC may assume an event on another machines has already happened if the time for that event has passed according to its own clock. And what is worse, when one task fails it has a knock-on effect with other tasks failing to happen and in turn causing further tasks to fail.

2. Loss of Data:

When tasks fail to happen it soon gets noticed but when networks are not synchronised data that is meant to be kept can quite easily be lost and it can go unnoticed for quite a while. Data can be lost because storage as and retrieval is also reliant on time stamps.