Precise UTC dissemination through future telecom synchronization networks

Precise time has become an essential service for most critical infrastructures. The development of telecommunication synchronization networks may facilitate the use of precise time, which will be a great benefit to a large number of devices connected to the Internet. This paper introduces our preliminary work to evaluate the dissemination of precise time reference through a potential telecom synchronization network. With synchronous Ethernet and IEEE1588v2 on-path support (including Telecom Boundary Clocks), time transfer can be accurate at the level of 100 ns. The other challenges of compensating network asymmetry and establishing traceability to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) are discussed.