A Calibration of Timing Accuracy in the NIST Cyber-Physical Systems Testbed

Published

December 18, 2018

Author(s)

Marc A. Weiss, YaShian Li-Baboud, Dhananjay Anand, Kevin G. Brady, Paul A. Boynton, Cuong T. Nguyen, Martin J. Burns, Avi M. Gopstein

Abstract

We propose a general methodology for assessing the time accuracy and uncertainties and report results from a project to calibrate timing in the NIST CPS and Smart Grid Testbeds. We measured clock synchronization accuracy and stability as well as latencies for potential experiments in the testbeds. We determined calibrations of GPS receivers to UTC(NIST) with an uncertainty of 16 ns. However, an anomaly occurred coincident with a power shutdown, which resulted in a total uncertainty of receiver calibrations against UTC(NIST) of 100 ns. Synchronization at testbed locations relative to an IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) grandmaster was found to have a max offset of 36 ns through 2 TCs ± 6 ns one sigma from the grandmaster through two transparent clocks. Finally, we measured the time error relative to the grandmaster of an embedded device attached to a switch without PTP support with a mean offset of 50 s ± 10 s, and at 8 ms ± 500 s for timestamping at the general purpose input/output (GPIO). We report the methodology used, as well as some of challenges encountered and solutions developed in the process.

Citation

Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2030

Report Number

2030

NIST Pub Series

Technical Note (NIST TN)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2030

Keywords

Timing characterization, Cyber-Physical Systems, Internet of Things, testbeds

Citation

Weiss, M. , Li-Baboud, Y. , Anand, D. , Brady, K. , Boynton, P. , Nguyen, C. , Burns, M. and Gopstein, A. (2018), A Calibration of Timing Accuracy in the NIST Cyber-Physical Systems Testbed, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2030 (Accessed October 9, 2025)