Measuring the Absolute Accuracy of Network Packet Timestamping
White Papers
Modern Financial Networks
Modern financial trading networks forward packets, load balance traffic across trunks, and handle quality-of-service considerations such as throughput and latency that impact trading performance. Timestamping measures the performance and transaction accuracy in these networks. Over the years, new approaches and standards such as IEEE 1588 PTP (Precision Time Protocol) have improved timestamp distribution and accuracy. With proper design and timing distribution, PTP can provide sub-microsecond synchronization.
Synchronization error largely depends on the type of network switches you use to distribute timing. PTP transparent and boundary switches are usually more accurate than ordinary Ethernet switches. It also depends on whether the timing is distributed over a switched LAN or routed network. With the proper design of a timing distribution network, you can quickly achieve high accuracy in time stamping.
Keysight has designed a timestamping solution that produces superior accuracy with PTP using hardware timestamps. In rigorous laboratory testing, the TradeVision platform delivered timestamp accuracy within ± 200 ns compared with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This white paper discusses the methods used to measure timestamping accuracy that are easy to reproduce in customer environments, without the need for complex and expensive oscilloscopes and media converters.