[time-nuts] Serial or other simple protocols for exchanging time

[Ralph Aichinger]

Hi everybody!


I am a newbie and am wondering what options there are for exchanging time

on a more basic level than NTP or PTP (that is for situations when a

full network stack is too complex).


For now I have found:


NMEA (probably ZDA only)

IRIG timecode (this is rather complex, I would rather have a

              full network stack than IRIG?)

SMPTE timecode (this too?)


Are there any other obvious candidates I missed? How did e.g.

HP atomic clocks tell their time to connected devices before

there was the NTP protocol? Did they output NMEA or something

else? Did they emit IRIG directly?


I want to create an Arduino based clock that tells time to a computer

it is linked too. For exact seconds alignment I want to use a PPS signal,

but I need a means to tell the computer about second numbers, hours etc.

too.


Of course I could invent a serial protocol, but I suppose if I invented a

text based serial protocol, it would probably end up looking very

similar in structure to NMEA ZDA sentences.


*Is* NMEA the most practical time protocol at the 1 second level

(that is when a PPS pulse takes care of second alignment?) or should

I use something else if I am free to design stuff clean slate?


TIA

/ralph

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