Design and implementation of IEEE1588 time synchronization messages timestamping based on FPGA

IEEE1588 is a Precise Time Protocol (PTP), which is of potentially wide application in control and measurement networks. Stamping PTP messages accurately in physical layer taking advantage of hardware circuits, it is one of important key technologies to achieve the object of high precision time synchronization of IEEE1588. This paper analyzes the content of IEEE1588 standard in detail, and proposes a method of "Cyclone II FPGA + MAC + PHY", a hardware solution that stamps the time of PTP messages' arrival and departure. It permits to obtain messages from Media Independent Interface (MII) between MAC and PHY layers by using "DM9000 + LXT971A", while FPGA monitors these signals and timestamps synchronization messages. To validate the solution, a test platform was built. The result shows that the solution can detect the sent and received synchronization messages accurately. This work laid a solid foundation for developing high-precision network clock based on the IEEE1588 standard.