Clock Synchronization in Distributed Systems

A system-wide global time base with known precision is frequently of pivotal importance for the design and operation of distributed systems and services. The requirements and the large scale often demand a high-precision below the microsecond-range. The IEEE-1588 standard addresses these issues and proposes ways for a suitable implementation. Complementing these solutions, an alternative architecture for network interfaces and networked devices is proposed that renders a worst-case precision in the 100 ns-range possible. Furthermore, an analysis and an experimental evaluation reveals actual values for the worst-case precision that might be achieved.