IEEE-1588? STANDARD FOR A PRECISION
CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL
FOR NETWORKED MEASUREMENT AND
CONTROL SYSTEMS
Abstract
This paper will discuss the major features and design objectives of the IEEE-1588 standard. Recent performance
results of prototype implementations of this standard in an Ethernet environment will be presented. Potential
areas of application of this standard will be outlined.
INTRODUCTION
Temporal relationships have always been an important element in the measurement and control of
industrial physical systems. In small closed systems time is usually implicit in the operation of electronic
circuits or in the execution patterns of computer programs. As these industrial systems become more
complex with sensors, actuators, and computers distributed in space and communicating via networks, the
explicit representation of time is often necessary for robust implementations. The temporal and other
implementation requirements on industrial systems differ considerably from those found in typical office
distributed computing environments. IEEE-1588-2002, ‘Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization
Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems’ was designed to serve the clock
synchronization needs of industrial systems.