Time is more crucial than ever to industry and society. Uses range from every day positioning tools such as satnavs, to playing a key role in industries such as transport, agriculture and other aspects of critical national infrastructure. The use of timing signals are also an integral part of new technologies such as 5G, smart cities, drones and CAVs. Currently most timing signals are derived from satellites.
The 2018 Blackett review highlighted the UK’s dependency on using satellite-derived timing. Requirements are also becoming more demanding, with some applications requiring uncertainties smaller than 1 microsecond and signals that are continuously available.
A precise, reliant and reliable timekeeping source, independent of GNSS, is vital to help prevent serious societal and industrial impact in the event of a cyber-attack, jamming or spoofing.
NPLTime® Services offer users a time signal over fibre optic links that is traceable to UTC(NPL), not dependent on GNSS.
