Incorporates profiles from the IEEE standard® 1588 to meet the power and synchronization requirements of private 5G networks
Critical infrastructure, such as utilities, transportation, and mobile networks, depend on time for synchronization. The main source of time comes from national systems such as GPS (Global Position Satellite), but GPS signals are susceptible to interference and spoofing attacks. To continue providing critical infrastructure operators with a secure timing solution, Microchip Technology today announces the TimeProvider firmware version 2.4® 4100 grandmaster with a BlueSky™ embedded firewall function for potential threat detection and GNSS validation before using the signal as a timing reference.
“Security is of utmost importance to operators and imperative to ensuring that the time reference used by a grandmaster is a valid and trusted signal,” said Randy Brudzinski, vice president of Microchip's Time and Frequency Systems business unit. . “The TimeProvider 4100 grandmaster, with its BlueSky embedded GPS firewall, offers our customers a cost-effective solution that provides highly effective protection against spoofing, interference and other threats that could affect the validity of the GNSS signal.”
TimeProvider 2.4 Series Version 4100 Also Adds IEEE Power Profiles® 1588, which provides gateway functions between PTP telecommunications and power profiles. With this device, electricity companies can connect communication networks and substations to support the convergence of IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) networks in parallel to the modernization of operators.
The rise of private networks continues to increase in various places, such as factories, stadiums and mines. These private networks can now be synchronized with version 2.4 of the TimeProvider 4100 series, which incorporates the 802.1.AS TSN (Time Sensitive Network) profile. This functionality provides private networks with a more accurate and autonomous timing system for coordinating IoT (Internet of Things) devices on private networks.
Depending on their deployment requirements, operators need grandmasters in a number that can accommodate both very few and many clients. Version 2.4 of the TP4100 can serve 2.000 PTP (Precise Time Protocol) clients, offering them the possibility of synchronizing a large number of base stations with precise time without the need to install numerous grandmasters.
As existing signal communication facilities age, the need arises to modernize them by applying a modular architecture. Version 2.4 of the TimeProvider 4100 series offers a new mode of operation that includes filtering of existing input signals and is capable of serving as an SSU (Synchronization Supply Unit), thus enabling the migration of large SSU environments to a TimeProvider server architecture. . It combines new protocols such as PTP, NTP, SyncE and old signals in large quantities so that operators can guarantee the permanence of already installed services, as well as modernize synchronization signals for new network architectures.
Resilience is essential for synchronization solutions for critical infrastructure. A failure can cause degradation or loss of service, all of which affects customer satisfaction. Software redundancy increases the resiliency of the TimeProvider 4100 series by allowing two grandmasters to be synchronized in an Active/Standby model so that network clients can be served by the Standby unit if the Active unit experiences an outage. Another important and valuable feature of version 2.4 of the TimeProvider 4100 series is the additional model for redundancy, which allows operation of two units in an Active/Active mode that adds flexibility depending on customer preferences. Customers using Active/Active mode can rely on two grandmasters designed to operate at all times, unlike the Active/Standby configuration where a device is not used while on standby.
TimeProvider 2.4 series version 4100 is integrated with the TimePictra synchronization management system® to give users a complete view of synchronization and status across their entire network.
