Description

TimeProvider® 4100 is a family of solutions based on a hardware platform with a choice of oscillators that can be complemented by optional expansion modules and by unique differentiating software options that are made available in successive releases. This approach ensures the preservation of investments in a platform that evolves with industry needs and standard evolutions.

New Features for Release 2.3

TimeProvider 4100 Release 2.3 builds upon prior releases by adding the following key capabilities.

• Revised E1/T1 expansion module with Composite Clock (CC) and Japan Composite Clock (JCC)
• Redundancy mode is added to ePRTC operation-mode to brings additional resiliency
• Precision Time Protocol (PTP) enhancements with higher capacity up to 1,000 clients
• Dual PTP Server profiles per port
• Resiliency increased capabilities with multiple PTP inputs and IEEE 1588 2.1 2019 majority vote with enhanced Assisted Partial Time Support (APTS)
• Security enhancements with Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) support, two-factor authentication
• Security : industry leading support for the latest IEEE® 1588-2019 standard security prongs
• Enhanced performance with TimePictra® Synchronization Management System for status and configuration support
• Enhanced Frequency monitoring with TIE, MTIE and TDEV with configurable masks and standard masks

 

Flexible Architecture

• Rich base platform with support for PTP, NTP and legacy frequency timing interfaces
• Ports of many types : 4xE1/T1, 2xRJ45 1GE, 6xSFP 1GE, 2x1pps/ToD, 1 GNSS, 1 Craft
• Optional Expansion Module with 16 outputs each separately configurable as E1/T1/2048 kHz/1544 kHz/Composite-clock (64 kHz)/JCC two inputs CC-IN1 and CC-IN2 can be configured as CC/JCC inputs to module (outputs phase alignment)
• Optional Expansion Module with 4xSFP 1GE and 4xSFP+ 1GE/10GE fan out ports and 100M Fast Ethernet

 

Best-of-Breed Grandmaster Clock

• Industry-leading IEEE 1588 v2 grandmaster with support for multiple profiles per unit and dual server profiles per port
• Telecom 2008, Default profile, G.8265.1, G.8275.1, G.8275.2
• SyncE input & output
• NTP with MD5 security
• Multiple packet services per unit, each port can be configured separately for master or client or probe or NTP
• Dedicated management port (RJ45 or SFP)
• Operator can select number and types of ports and interfaces that are necessary to deploy and scale for use cases such as 5G, cRAN, oRAN, DOCSIS remote/MAC PHY, etc.
• Primary Reference Time Clock : Class A (100ns), Class B (ITU-T G.8272, 40ns), ePRTC (30ns)
• 1,000 PTP clients capacity at full rate of 128 packet per second in unicast
• Sub-tenancy model enable to double capacity and scalability by using a master unit connected to downstream client units; port count is doubled with two units.

 

Resiliency & Redundancy

• Dual power input for power redundancy
• Fan less device minimizes risks associated with rotation and moving parts
• Heat sinks and heat pipes enable great scalability with SFP and SFP+ ports
• Oscillator options (mini OCXO, OCXO, super OCXO, Rubidium) for time-keeping and holdover enhanced performances depending on use case and requirements (edge, aggregation, core)
• Support for all major GNSS Constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo) and SBAS allows for enhanced resiliency by enabling to lock to more satellites
• Support for Multi-band GNSS to mitigate time delay due to solar storms and ionosphere effects. Each unit is hardware enabled with Multiband receiver. L1 is set per default, upgrade to multiband does not require a new hardware module
• Microchips’ patented active thermal compensation technology for excellent accuracy of <10ns RMS to UTC (USNO)
• Up to 3 PTP client inputs and IEEE 2.1 2019 majority vote with patented automatic asymmetry compensation (AAC) provides best of class assisted partial timing support (APTS) on 32 paths as back up to GNSS signal. AAC with APTS mitigates for packet delay variation (PDV), jitter and asymmetry
• Geographical network redundancy for failure leverages IEEE 1588 PTP Best Master Class Algorithm (BMCA)
• Software redundancy (gateway clock or ePRTC operation modes) with no need for additional hardware modules. Two units use Active/StandBy model with direct fiber link, co-location, continuous health monitoring and fast switching from passive to active when needed
• TimeProvider 4100 is a key member of the virtual PRTC solution. TP4100 can be configured as ePRTC, Gateway Clock as well as with High Performance Boundary Clock. vPRTC provides an architecture for redundant, resilient and highly accurate distribution of phase (PRTC-A over long distances) using optical networks such as DWDM

 

Security

• Firewall capabilities to block any unauthorized protocols
• Secure protocols such as SSH & HTTPS
• Enhanced SSH with configuration of security levels including High Security
• TACACS+ and Radius Authorization, Authentication and Accounting (AAA) support
• Radius two-Factor Authentication
• IEEE 1588 2.1 2019 latest security standard support – prong C (architecture guidance) and prong D (monitoring and management)
• Updates for relevant CVEs and other vulnerabilities
• Anti-Jamming and anti-spoofing protections including indicators (AGC Automatic Gain Control and CW Continuous Wave) and remediation measures based on thresholds

Synchronization Management and Monitoring

• Full FCAPS via Microchip’s TimePictra® synchronization management system and via CLI
• Enhanced performance with TimePictra for status and configuration
• webGUI for user friendly display of Monitoring configuration and results
• Internal logging, SNMP support
• Dedicated Management port on main chassis and also on 1GE/10GE optional module
• In-band management including support for IEEE 1588 master and slave and management on same port
• Monitoring of PTP, 1pps for phase as well as legacy signals such as E1/T1, 10Mhz. Measurements (TIE, MTIE, TDEV)
• TimePictra can present monitoring results as well as graphs for ePRTC and chains of high performance boundary clocks

Multiple Operation Modes

Mode of Operation is an essential capability focused around which of the multiple inputs can be used as synchronization reference. The unit can still behave as a fully functional grandmaster from an outputs standpoint and also has the capability to monitor various kinds of inputs, but a key set of specific inputs can be used as reference for a specific Operation Mode. Various Operation Modes will be introduced over time on TimeProvider 4100. TimeProvider 4100 now supports three Operation Modes:

• Gateway Clock mode
• High-Performance Boundary Clock mode (Single domain and Multi domain)
• Enhanced Primary Reference Time Clock (ePRTC)

 

Gateway Clock Mode

• New class of synchronization device with multiple inputs and fan out capabilities for distribution of timing flows to multiple end points
• Translation of PTP timing profiles
• No license, Gateway Mode is the default of the TimeProvider 4100 device

High Performance Boundary Clock Mode

• High Performance Boundary clock meets Boundary Clock Class C (10ns cTE) and Class D (5ns Max |TE|)
• Single Domain (SD) or Multi Domain (MD)
• MD HP BC is typically used for redundant, resilient and high-accuracy distribution of phase over long distance on optical networks (DWDM)
• Key element of virtual PRTC (vPRTC) end to end solution
• Leverages Optical Timing Channel (OTC) : hop-by-hop deployment of TP4100 HP BC at every optical node, with dedicated lambda for time distribution
• HP BC does not require hardware change, HP BC is enabled by a software option

 

Enhanced PRTC Mode

• No hardware needed, ePRTC is enabled via software license
• TP4100 ePRTC mode meets ITU-T G.8272.1 30ns
• Flexibility to use a standard Cesium (Time Cesium 4400/4500) or a high performance Cesium (5071A)
• Fully Protected TimeScale
• Holdover Gas Gauge and extended holdover (beyond the 14-day requirement by the standard)
• Commissioning Guidance and Recommendations

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TimeProvider 4100 Features and Benefits

• IEEE 1588 v2 PTP grandmaster
• Redundancy via software mechanism using two units with health monitoring of active and stand-by devices
• Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) including enhanced ESMC and eEEC G.8262.1
• Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) with multi-constellation support (Global Positioning System (GPS), Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS), BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and Galileo) and Satellite-based Augmentation System (SBAS) support
• GNSS with multi-band L1/L2/E5B support
• Primary Reference Time Clock (PRTC) Class A (100 ns) and Class B (40 ns)
• Enhanced PRTC (ePRTC) ITU-T G.8272.1, 30 ns
• Reliable fanless passive thermal operation
• Oscillator options: mini oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO), OCXO, superOCXO and Rubidium (Rb)
• IPv6/IPv4 on all ports including Management (OAM)
• Standard base unit with eight Ethernet ports, four E1/T1 ports, one craft port, two 1 PPS/ToD ports, two 1 PPS/10 MHz ports
• Optional internal expansion module with 16 E1/T1ports for a total of 20 E1/T1 outputs per unit with support for composite clock including Japan format
• Optional internal expansion module with four small form-factor pluggable (SFP) and four enhanced small form-factor pluggable (SFP+) for 10 GbE support, 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and 1 GbE fanout
• Support for multiple IEEE 1588 v2 profiles per unit and per port
• Support for management and client and Inband Management, client and server on same port
• Support for high-performance multidomain boundary clock with class C and D accuracy (operation modes)
• High performance: 1,000 PTP unicast clients at 128 PPS and NTP reflector (NTPr) 20,000 tps per port, for a total of 160,000 tps per unit and NTPd at 500 tps on three ports for a total of 1,500 tps per unit
• Fully supports ITU-T profiles for phase synchronization: G.8275.1 and G.8275.2
• Fully supports ITU-T profiles for frequency synchronization: G.8265.1, Telecom 2008 and default
• ITU-T G.8273.4 APTS with patented enhanced automatic asymmetry compensation (AAC) over multiple network variations with multiple PTP client inputs and majority vote mechanism
• Security via enhanced SSH and Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System (TACACS+), Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS), authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA)
• Radius two-factor authentication
• IEEE 1588 2.1 2019 security support for prong C (architecture guidance) and prong D (monitoring and management)
• Monitoring and measurement capabilities for phase (PTP) and legacy ports
• TimePictra synchronization management system support

 

TimeProvider 4100 Applications

• LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, O-RAN, cRAN, 5G
• Ethernet backhaul-midhaul-fronthaul networks, cable, remote PHY