IQD Frequency Products is a member of the White Rabbit Collaboration
IQD Frequency Products is a member of the White Rabbit Collaboration
The White Rabbit Collaboration (WRC) is an initiative launched by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, to maintain and further enhance the open-source White Rabbit technology. Originally developed at CERN as a result of a joint effort with institutes and companies to synchronise devices in the accelerators down to sub-nanoseconds, the objective of the WR Collaboration is to facilitate its uptake by industry and address emerging needs for terrestrial time dissemination. The technology provides a fully deterministic Ethernet-based network for general purpose data transfer as well as sub-nanosecond accuracy time and frequency transfer based on IEEE1588 (PTP).
New emerging technologies have more stringent synchronisation requirements and there is an ever-growing overreliance on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for the distribution of time.
The WRC exists to bring stakeholders of the technology together, identify common interests and development needs, and define together the future of WR.
The WRC wants to foster the uptake of the technology in new domains and to become the global reference point for White Rabbit technology.
Within the framework of the White Rabbit Collaboration, IQD, GMV and CERN are working together to realise a commercially available White Rabbit Switch box built to Version 4 of the design. The Version 4 WRS includes a number of upgrades from Version 3 such as 10GBs Ethernet, upgradeable firmware, hot swappable fans and PSUs. Most significantly to IQD, Version 4 includes an expansion board slot; IQD is developing the first expansion board for use within WRSv4 and this expansion board will bring holdover capability to the White Rabbit Switch. IQD and GMV have committed to upholding the open hardware and are working with CERN through the WR Collaboration to support this.
Our expansion board will include IQD's ICPT-1, a quantum atomic clock, which will be synchronised and disciplined to the WR clock on the main WRS. In the event that the main WRS detects that it is no longer locked to an external source, it will revert to the time signal from the expansion board thus maintaining internal time and downstream time, aka holdover. We have already identified possible applications for this including switching to a redundant system after fault detections; during this event the holdover board would keep the WRS clock within a few nano seconds of the original signal thus meaning no lock or time errors caused during the swap.
Designed into the WR Switch v4 is the ICPT-1, a rubidium oscillator designed using the Coherent Population Trap method. The ICPT-1 provides security and accuracy of signal continuity in case of temporary signal losses with its exceptional holdover ability, and can enable stability of accurate signals down to the picosecond level. This is the first time that holdover has been addressed in the White Rabbit environment, and IQD is at the forefront of this technology.
If you're keen to learn more about the White Rabbit Collaboration or the Switch v4 project, use our Contact Us form.
