[time-nuts] What are the important features to look for in an time

Peter Vince pvince at theiet.org
Tue Dec 9 21:44:45 UTC 2008


>What are the important features to look for in an time sync piece of
>hardware?
>
>Anyone have a list of the good/required/nice to have features?


While accepting the "horses for courses" comments, how about these ideas:

These features would relate to ANY equipment:

1) "Turn-key" operation.  Often you will just want to plug a piece of equipment in, and it should work with no user 
intervention.

2) Logging output.  A simple output that can optionally be used to see everything is working OK.

3) Configurability.

4) Optional manual operation of normally automatic functions.

5) If controllable via front-panel display and buttons, a sufficiently complex display to easily see what is needed, and enough 
buttons to make control simple without stepping up, down, and sideways through endless menus.


Specifically for time/frequency synchronising (and perhaps these are performance specs rather than features):

1) Timing accuracy.

2) Timing jitter and wander (ADEV and MTIE).

3) Step sizes (time and frequency).

4) Effects of power supply and environmental variations (temperature, humidity, vibration).


Peter







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