National Timing Centre (NTC) programme

We are awoken in the morning by the alarms on our smartphones, synchronised to our wake-up times by a network of satellites overhead. This same technology tracks our location on our morning runs and commutes. We boil the kettle to make a cup of tea with electricity from the grid – which is itself synchronised by satellite-based timing. On the platform at the train station, we see on the overhead signs that the train is delayed by one minute, which we know thanks to coordination of its GPS location with the local station.

Why is time important to our digital infrastructure?

Unknowingly we reap the benefits of technologies that can precisely detect time and location every single day. Even just on our smartphones, we have a direct line to this invisible yet integral utility that underpins much of the infrastructure and systems that keep the world turning. It has been estimated that satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing services – the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), such as GPS – directly support over £250 billion (13.4%) of the UK economy. As a result, it is important for industries to explore additional timing solutions that offer greater resilience, enhance performance and support continued innovation and future growth. 

How is NPL supporting industry to be future ready with accurate time?

Through the National Timing Centre (NTC) programme, NPL is developing a complementary solution for future timing, which will support many aspects of UK industry and society, which increasingly require precise time - whether it’s at home on our devices, the telecoms networks, energy, broadcast or in the finance sector, where the time margins used are incredibly fine: one second for voice trading, one millisecond for electronic trading, and just 100 microseconds for high-frequency trading. 

A resilient and accurate timekeeping source will ensure such services benefit from access to secure, synchronised timing signals, that are traceable to the national time scale - UTC(NPL). It will ensure the continued stability of important services we rely on, should something occur to the signals received via satellites, and will future proof society as we develop smart cities, autonomous vehicles and advanced communications. 

Accurate and resilient time will ensure the continued stability of important services we rely on, such as our financial systems, power grids, communications and transport services, to keep the UK moving and strengthen confidence in their reliability. 

The NTC programme will ensure split-second timing is available wherever it’s needed across industry. It will provide the resilience needed to support our digital infrastructure, wider economy and society to keep essential services running and ensure trust in new technologies. 

Time and synchronisation skills and training

However, in order for the programme to achieve its aims of improving resilience to strengthen our society, we need to ensure we have the skills and workforce to implement such infrastructure. The programme is responding to the specialist skills shortage in time and synchronisation solutions through specialist, apprentice and post graduate training opportunities.

NPL offers several time and frequency courses including an Introduction to Time and Frequency Measurement and an Introduction to Clock Performance course. Both are one day, online courses, offered at no charge, which aim to equip the next generation of specialists. They are suitable for anyone interested in the subject, from students and entry-level scientists and engineers to professions in many different industry sectors for which time and frequency play a role.

These NPL certified courses have been developed through the NTC programme in partnership with the NPL Quantum Programme. They will help people to build skills in time and frequency to support the maintenance and innovation required for many sectors of society to function properly.

Ensuring we have a large number bank of specialists, trained and qualified in this area, will support the NTC programme in its ambitions to enable innovation and the acceleration of new technologies, such as smart grids, 5G, factories of the future and smart cities.

Read the blog: Leon Lobo, Head of the National Timing Centre, discusses the importance of resilient timing

The following information provides an overview of the planned capability being developed as part of the NTC programme, to support access of resilient and traceable time across the UK. 

Developing framework within the NTC programme 

NPL is defining potential frameworks to enable future access of resilient and traceable time and frequency signals, that support long-term scalability. The following points provide further information about the services we offer:

What are NPL's innovation nodes and where are they located?

Through the NTC research and development programme, NPL has established three timing innovation nodes at partner universities across the UK, including the University of Surrey, University of Strathclyde and Cranfield University. The nodes provide industry and academia with access to timing signals, traceable to UTC(NPL), for research, testing and product evaluation, which support the innovation of time-dependent products and services. The universities offer cutting-edge facilities with 24/7 monitored laboratory space. 

What are NPL’s service nodes? 

NPL operates two service nodes located at the Daisy (Reading) and Telehouse (London) data centres, which provide continuous, assured timing signals over dedicated fibre optic cables that are traceable to UTC(NPL) and independent of GNSS. These are currently used primarily for the distribution of the NPLTime^® service to the financial sector and provide an opportunity for users from other sectors to partner directly with NPL to access the timing signal for their own timing needs or to offer assured timing services to their customers. NPL is working with government and industry to understand requirements and develop proposals which prioritise accessibility for service providers and users to UTC(NPL).  

In future, there could be the opportunity for industry to host and manage innovation and service nodes to meet R&D or market needs.  

Timing signal access options

NPL is currently developing plans to enhance the timing infrastructure across the UK. The ambition is to deliver a robust and accurate timing network to industry through a range of services, including access to the innovation and service nodes. The current and planned future signal access levels being developed are: 

• free services: comprising as a minimum the MSF radio signal and network time protocol (NTP) servers
• low-cost signal access hand-off points for onward use and distribution by service providers where cost, scale and assurance level will be based on industry demand and requirements 
• high-end, integrated capability at a higher cost 

Future timing opportunities

Future business models will give the opportunity for industry to scale to meet market needs. 

NPL welcomes ongoing information about industry requirements for using and accessing signals and facilities. Any new capability to be developed must be based on evidence of need. We would also welcome discussion with government, industry, and academia about the potential to establish innovation or service nodes managed by other organisations to provide downstream access to signals traceable to UTC(NPL). 

Please contact us regarding the NTC programme and complete the form with your enquiry

Contact the NTC team