GPS

MASTER CLOCK TIME

SYNCHRONIZATION FOR
UTILITY.

BVQi NATIONAL
ACCREDITATION
OF
CERTIFICATION
ISO 9001
BODIES
 GPS TIME SYNCHRONIZATION
Need for TIME SYNCHRONIZATION

• Time Synchronisation by use of Master Clock and

Synchronisation network is pretty old in our Process industry.

• This is required for the precise alignment of clocks and timing

devices on a same time scale between different components
within the power grid infrastructure and for the coordination and
synchronization of various devices such as generators, relays and
control systems.

• Traditionally, in Control System, Disturbance Recorder, SOE,

Data Logger etc are used for alarms and events. Uniform time
Stamping is required in all related equipment and systems for
alignment and rationalisation.
• In absence of common time base, pre and post alarm events can
not be related.
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Need for TIME SYNCHRONIZATION

• Earlier concept of Intra Plant environment in Control

Automation domain is replaced by integration of Intra Plant,
Inter Plant and Third Party Systems.
• For example, ABT Metering, Smart Relays, Utility Commercial
Billing System etc need a common time platform with Inter
Plant, Intra Plant and various other External Systems for
effective operation and desired outputs.
• In Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution System
work in tandem and have interrelations amongst various
equipment and systems. Any event occurring in either area has
to be mapped with respect to a common time base. Identical time
base across the geographical and operational areas is mandatory
requirement.
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• What is GPS ?
GPS Time Synchronisation is the technology which enables
different Control Systems , geographically and functionally
apart to work under a rationalised and identical/same time
platform.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System, technology developed

by the US Department of Defense for positioning and timing
information and high precision positioning, navigation & time
synchronization.
Currently there are 30+ satellites orbiting earth which provides
accurate time & positioning information.
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 GPS Signal Provides longitude, latitude and
altitude of coordinates ,also provides
information regarding the critical fourth
dimension - time.
 Each GPS satellite contains multiple atomic
clocks that contribute very precise time data
to the GPS signals.
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 Type of Navigation system other than GPS

 IRNSS is an autonomous system designed to
cover the Indian region and 1500 km around the
Indian mainland. This GNSS is owned and
operated by the Government of India.
 GLONASS: (Globalnaya Navigazionnaya
Sputnikovaya Sistema, or Global Navigation
 Satellite System) is a global GNSS owned and
operated by the Russian Federation.
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 Type of Navigation system other than GPS
 Galelio:Galileo is a global GNSS owned and operated by the
European Union.
 QZSS: QZSS is a regional GNSS owned by the Government of
Japan and operated by
QZS System Service Inc. (QSS). QZSS complements GPS to
improve coverage in East Asia & Oceania.
 BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS): BeiDou, or BDS, is a
global GNSS owned and operated by the People's Republic of
China.
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Why Time Synchronization is Required
• Time synchronisation required in most of the industry with
time stamping of events with an accuracy of 1 millisecond (1 ms)
to 1 microsecond (1 μs) and this can not be provided via Global
NTP Server. So to provide higher accuracy Local time server
is required.
• To have common reference time throughout the organization.
(e.g. Manufacturing Units, Airports, Railways, Share Market,
Bank, etc).
• To correlate historical data points for post-event fault analysis
to enabling real-time visibility for higher efficiency management
of load and generation fluctuations, problem analysis and
isolation, and reducing the impact of wide area outages.
• To Comply with Government Guideline (ex. Audit Trails in
Pharma)
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• For time synchronization, the GNSS signal is

received, processed by a local master clock / time
server or primary reference, and passed on to
downstream devices, systems or networks so that
their local clocks are also synchronized to UTC.

• Typical accuracies range from better than 1

microsecond to a few milliseconds depending on the
synchronization protocol.
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Direct Time Syncronization
1PPS
• 1PPS stands for one pulse per second. It is a high-precision time
pulse from precision clocks like a GPS receiver that very
precisely indicates the start of a second. Accuracy of time
synchronization of 1 PPS can be in the Nanosecond range.
• The 1-PPS specification most commonly used for synchronising
signals in substations comes from IEC 60044-8 and is
referred to by the IEC 61850-9-2 process bus implementation.
• 1-PPS requires a dedicated distribution network, which can use
coaxial or twisted pair or fibre-optic (multi-mode or
single-mode) cables.
The rise and fall time (tf) between the 10% and 90% levels must be
less than 200 ns, and the high time (th) must be between
10 μs and 500 ms (measured at the 50% level).
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Direct Time Syncronization
IRIG-B
• IRIG-B stands for Inter-range instrumentation group time codes B.
IRIG-B can be applied in a substation for power quality and
system stability monitoring, event recording and accurate time
stamping for revenue billing (1 uS).
• This time code can be transmitted as raw pulses over copper cables
(coaxial or twisted pair) and fibre-optic cables, or as an
amplitude modulated (AM) 1 kHz carrier over coaxial cable.
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Direct Time Syncronization
IRIG-B
Below is the figure for IRIG – B AM and IRIG-B DCLS signal.
IRIG-B AM is distinctive because of the 1 KHz sine wave carrier.
It is similar to IRIG-B DCLS, since Pick-Pick values of the carrier
signal follow the same form as IRIG-B DCLS, which contains the
information
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UTC Time Standard

•UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time

•It is a standard used to establish time zones worldwide. For
example, New York City is in the UTC-5 time zone, which
means the time in NYC is five hours behind UTC
•But by the middle of the 20th century, with incredible
accuracy, was showing that the Earth's rotation actually
varied slightly from day to day. Earthquakes, melting ice
sheets and natural oscillations in our planet's motion can
cause changes of a few fractions of a second in the amount of
time it takes the Earth to spin on its axis, according to NASA.
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UTC Time Standard

•In 1967, a committee at the United Nations officially adopted UTC as a

standard that's more accurate than GMT for setting clocks. UTC
incorporates measurements of the Earth's rotation as well as averaged
readings from around 400 atomic clocks around the world.
•Two components are used to determine UTC:
•• International Atomic Time (TAI): A time scale that combines
the output of some 400 highly precise atomic clocks worldwide, and
provides the exact speed for our clocks to tick.
•• Universal Time (UT1): Also known as astronomical time or
solar time, it refers to the Earth's rotation. It is used to compare the pace
provided by TAI with the actual length of a day on Earth.
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UTC Time Standard

•Leap Seconds
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is based on International
Atomic Time (TAI), but it is adjusted by leap seconds to account for
the difference between the definition of the second and the rotation
of Earth. This correction keeps UTC in conjunction with the
apparent position of the Sun and the stars, and it is the standard used
for all general timekeeping applications.
•Solar time
UT1 time (Universal Time) is also known as astronomical time or
solar time and is determined by the position of the Sun relative to
the observer; as such it is influenced by vagaries in the Earth's
rotation and does not flow uniformly.
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Migration to NTP---- PTP
•Traditional power systems use IRIG-B which, depending on the
version used (TTL or AM), can provide an accuracy of 1
microsecond to a few microseconds. The main disadvantage of
IRIG-B is that it requires special cabling and network delays are
not automatically calibrated.

•The Network Time Protocol (NTP), on the other hand,

calibrates network delays automatically due to its bidirectional
timing protocol. In addition, NTP utilizes the data network,
which is more efficient in terms of cabling compared to IRIG-B.
However, it only achieves a typical accuracy of around 1
millisecond.
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Migration to NTP---- PTP

•In contrast, the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) offers the

advantages of IRIG-B and NTP: it achieves an accuracy of 100
nanoseconds to 1 microsecond within a substation. In addition,
PTP performs automatic network calibration and uses the data
network so that no additional cables are required for time
transmission.
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Time Synchornization Via LAN/ Ethenert
NTP/SNTP

•The NTP standard employs servers to supply clients, such as the

computers in your network, with current Coordinated Universal Time,
or UTC, information in response to individual requests.
•The timekeeping servers in these networks arranged in distinct strata,
also known as layers. The most accurate devices exist in Stratum 0, and
they include atomic, radio and other high-precision clocks, such as
those found in NIST laboratories and GPS satellites.
•Stratum 1 servers, also known as primary time servers, are connected
directly to Stratum 0 devices as well as their same-level peers.
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• Atomic time

TAI time (International Atomic Time) is a time scale that

combines
the output of some 400 highly precise atomic clocks worldwide,
and provides the exact speed for our clocks to tick.

Coordinated time
By combining TAI and UT1 we get UTC
(Coordinated Universal Time). UTC, like TAI (and unlike UT1)
flows uniformly at a constant "rate" (driven by TAI).
Given that this restriction (i.e. of uniform, constant flow)
causes UTC to diverge from the solar time , it has to be adjusted
once or twice a year with the addition or removal of a second.
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SNTP or Simple Network Time Protocol

Another variant of this protocol, known as SNTP or

Simple Network Time Protocol, employs the same packet
and message format.

The major difference is that SNTP is significantly less

accurate. Since clients cannot obtain timing data from
multiple sources or use MD5 checksums, they're
vulnerable to general network inaccuracies and malicious
agents that intentionally provide incorrect time stamps.
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