Analysis of Timekeeping in Experimentation

Real-time experimentation in multiple areas relies on time synchronization across devices. Protocols are used to sync time between nodes, but the accuracy of synchronization achieved by those different protocols is sometimes overlooked and not taken into account. This is a major issue, especially in less reliable hardware commonly used in research like the Raspberry Pi (RPi).We compare the synchronization achieved between RPi using the commonly available clock sources (Global Positioning Systems (GPSs) and time-servers), synchronization procedures and software. Across all sources the software Chrony achieves the best result, and GPS is not always the best solution.