Microchip’s TimeProvider 4500 v3 grandmaster clock enables terrestrial alternative to GNSS
Microchip has announced the release of the TimeProvider 4500 v3 grandmaster clock (TP4500) designed to deliver sub-nanosecond accuracy for time distribution across 800 km long-haul optical transmission.
Most current deployments require GNSS at grandmaster sites, but the TP4500 enables highly resilient synchronisation without relying on GNSS. The TP4500 supports time reference provided by UTC(k) UTC time provided by national labs, and is the first grandmaster to offer a premium capability that delivers High Accuracy Time Transfer (HA-TT) as defined by ITU-T G.8271.1/Y.1366.1 (01/2024) to meet 5 nanoseconds (ns) time delay over 800 km (equating to 500 picoseconds (ps) average per node, assuming 10 nodes).
The TP4500 system can be configured with multiple operation modes to form an end-to-end architecture known as virtual PRTC (vPRTC), capable of delivering PRTC accuracy over a long-distance optical network. vPRTC is a carrier-grade architecture for terrestrial distribution of HA-TT, which has been widely deployed in operator networks throughout the world. HA-TT is a proven and cost-effective approach, as opposed to other alternative PNT solutions that have no wide adoption into critical infrastructure networks to date, have low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and are still dependent on GNSS as the ultimate source of time.
TimeProvider 4500 v3 is a steppingstone towards support of the ITU-T G.8272.2 standard, which defines a coherent network reference time clock (cnPRTC) in amendment 2 (2024). An cnPRTC architecture ensures highly accurate, resilient, and robust timekeeping throughout a telecom network. This allows stable, network-wide ePRTC time accuracy, even during periods of regional or network-wide GNSS unavailability or other failures and interruptions.
