What does GNSS have to do with a 911 call?
Both the US and UK governments have announced millions of dollars in funding to invest in resilient timing infrastructure and clock synchronisation that could take over when satellite signals being disrupted. Some firms specialising in highly accurate traceable time and clock synchronisation have already been refining exceptionally resilient timing solutions for energy, communications, information technology, and financial services as well as for aviation, maritime, highway, rail, transit, and transportation applications.
“Transportation applications include solutions for timing, traffic lights, signalling, and automated vehicles. If someone has a heart attack and calls 911, it’s important to know at what time the call centre received the message, when it sent out the ambulance, and at what time the ambulance reached the patient.”
Resilience and redundancy are vital for timing services and clock synchronisation. Hoptroff does this by taking GPS signals from the satellites and terrestrial feeds, currently from the National Metrology Institute in Sweden and bringing online the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Physical Laboratory in the UK by the end of 2021. Hoptroff TTaaS® provides three sources for every location, and software that responds to the time feeds.
“It is difficult to guarantee and prove accurate time delivery because this requires a continuous chain of comparison back to trusted sources at scientific institutions to demonstrate traceability. No other tech company is producing this end-to-end service.”
Global financial services, a major market for us, can’t afford to have their systems lose accurate time. Regulators have put Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) in Europe and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) in the USA in place that require clock synchronisation and time stamps. This level of accuracy and compliance is traceable to Universal Time, a standard measure of time that is based on the Earth’s rotation.
Our team has developed a range of software-based systems to deliver precise, scientifically measured, digitally coded time. We have a range of applications including data collection, compliance and security.
Hoptroff and other firms could provide time synchronisation services and server clock synchronisation technologies to a wide range of industries, but some may not be in a position to pay for these supplemental timing services, and others may not wish to spend the funds to do so. That is why some thought should be given as to how to get more of the timing services in the economy backed up.
As transportation becomes more complex, including civilians in space, timing is everything. But time is not foolproof and bad actors can interfere with it.
This article was originally published by Diana Furchtgott-Roth on Forbes. Read the full article here.
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Four areas that will need traceable time in 2022
MIFID II and CAT clock synchronisation requirements for fintech and banking
