White Rabbit Switch v4: Partnership with GMV

In conversation with Nick Amey of IQD Frequency products explaining how IQD became involved in the White Rabbit Switch v4 expansion board project by providing holdover properties to the switch (via the expansion board in development by GMV) using IQD's ICPT-1 atomic clock/rubidium oscillator. GMV approached IQD with an “out-of-the-box” idea of using a disciplined OCXO to filter the 1 PPS signal connected to their application rather than its usual main feature of adding exceptional holdover capabilities. After some extensive research and adjustments of the algorithms by engineers at IQD, the IQCM-200 disciplined OCXO indeed was able to provide an improved jitter to the original connected 1 PPS signal which lead to a much “quieter” timing source and a successful project. Based on this collaborative partnership, and thanks to the trust GMV placed in IQD’s engineering capabilities, a further collaboration began for GMV’s work on White Rabbit Switch v4 which is based on the White Rabbit development work of CERN. The White Rabbit Switch v4 will be the first switch version in the White Rabbit family with a slot for an expansion board to add further functionality. More excitingly, the first expansion board is in development by IQD and equipped with holdover functionality, incorporating IQD’s rubidium oscillator ICPT-1.

IQD Frequency Products is a member of the White Rabbit Collaboration and recognised market specialist in the frequency control market since 1973, as well as part of the Würth Elektronik eiSos group, one of the leading European manufacturers of passive components. Our UK-based engineering and application test labs are unrivalled and we offer a wide range of custom product development and testing services, including crystal and oscillator parameters, stability, accelerated ageing and more.