TY - GEN

T1 - Sub-Microsecond Time Synchronization for Network-Connected Microcontrollers

AU - Schleusner, Jens

AU - Fahnemann, Christian

AU - Pfleiderer, Richard

AU - Blume, Holger

PY - 2024/1/6

Y1 - 2024/1/6

N2 - This paper presents a bare-metal implementation of the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for network-connected microcontroller edge devices, enabling sub-microsecond time synchronization in automotive networks and multimedia applications. The implementation leverages the hardware timestamping capabilities of the microcontroller (MCU) to implement a two-stage Phase-locked loop (PLL) for offset and drift correction of the hardware clock. Using the MCU platform as a PTP master enables the distribution of a sub-microsecond accurate Global Positioning System (GPS) timing signal over a network. The performance of the system is evaluated using master-slave configurations where the platform is synchronized with a GPS, an embedded platform, and a microcontroller master. Results show that MCU platforms can be synchronized to an external GPS reference over a network with a standard deviation of 40.7 nanoseconds, enabling precise time synchronization for bare-metal microcontroller systems in various applications.

AB - This paper presents a bare-metal implementation of the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for network-connected microcontroller edge devices, enabling sub-microsecond time synchronization in automotive networks and multimedia applications. The implementation leverages the hardware timestamping capabilities of the microcontroller (MCU) to implement a two-stage Phase-locked loop (PLL) for offset and drift correction of the hardware clock. Using the MCU platform as a PTP master enables the distribution of a sub-microsecond accurate Global Positioning System (GPS) timing signal over a network. The performance of the system is evaluated using master-slave configurations where the platform is synchronized with a GPS, an embedded platform, and a microcontroller master. Results show that MCU platforms can be synchronized to an external GPS reference over a network with a standard deviation of 40.7 nanoseconds, enabling precise time synchronization for bare-metal microcontroller systems in various applications.

KW - Embedded System

KW - Microcontroller

KW - Precision Time Protocol

KW - PTP

KW - Time Sensitive Networking

KW - TSN

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186984093&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.15488/16561

DO - 10.15488/16561

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 979-8-3503-2414-3

T3 - Digest of Technical Papers - IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics

BT - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE)

T2 - IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE 2024)

Y2 - 5 January 2024 through 8 January 2024

ER -