The Future of a resilient, trustworthy and ubiquitous Time Transfer: Results presented of the successful development of a hybrid solution, combining the strengths of GNSS and terrestrial technologies.

Last Updated: 12/11/2021 13:43     Created at: 12/11/2021 13:30

On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, GMV GmbH teaming up with the National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB) presented the results of the project “RESILIENT, TRUSTWORTHY, UBIQUITOUS TIME TRANSFER” which were achieved through the support of the NAVISP program. Almost 70 people from industry and research attended the final presentation, which shows the great public interest in the project.

As part of NAVISP Element 1, which aims to develop innovative concepts, techniques, technologies, and systems related to the PNT sector along the entire value chain, GMV GmbH's main objective was to develop innovative and complementary methods of time transfer, focusing on the use of non- GNSS technologies to address common vulnerabilities of all GNSS-based time transfer techniques, such as susceptibility to spoofing, jamming, and signal blockage (indoors).

To this end, GMV GmbH has developed a prototype, called UTIME, which combines GNSS timing from a sparse network of low-cost, multi frequency GNSS stations and time distribution over general terrestrial networks. The time distribution is based on alternative techniques such as NTP+NTS (Network Time Protocol and Security) and DTM (Dynamic Synchronous Transfer Mode) that can work over commercially available networks. To ensure the functions and verify the subsequent possible use in various sectors such as Industry 4.0, power grids or financial markets, the solution was tested in various scenarios, including the following categories: open sky, obstructed open sky, light and deep indoor. Overall, the prototype was able to achieve sub-microsecond accurate time distribution over several hundred kilometres.

At the end of the presentation, GMV GmbH, together with the NAVISP team, indicated the opportunity of continuing the development of the product under Element 2, with the goal of eventual commercialization. First market analyses show the enormous growth of the market and the increasing demand in the last years, which makes a further cooperation even more interesting.

More detailed information can be found in the slides of the Final Presentation.