Sub-nanosecond time synchronization mechanism for radio interferometer array

In both wired and wireless networks, time synchronization is an important service for a wide range of applications in distributed systems. This includes radio interferometry. However, literature researches show that many distributed protocols cannot satisfy sub-ns time synchronization accuracy due to asymmetric delay errors, accumulated jitters and because of the strategy used to compute and adjust offsets. This paper proposes a global time synchronization algorithm in distributed networks. The algorithm allows us to compute and adjust offsets delays between master and each slaves in star topology and minimize asymmetric delays with sub-ns accuracy better than 10 ps and achieved global time synchronization. The theory of the algorithm used is presented and analyzed to prove that it achieves global time synchronization. Simulation results are given to show the performance and limitations of the proposed algorithm.