Revisiting Time: UT1, UTC, NTP and NTS
a day ago
- #Time Synchronization
- #Leap Seconds
- #Network Time Protocol
- Leap seconds are added to UTC to align atomic time with Earth's rotation, causing IT issues due to unexpected 61-second minutes.
- Leap second 'smearing' spreads the adjustment over hours to prevent IT disasters.
- Earth's rotation is irregular due to tidal forces and mass movements, requiring periodic leap seconds.
- NTP synchronizes computer clocks with UTC, crucial for distributed systems and precise time-sensitive applications.
- NTP operates over UDP, using a hierarchical server structure (stratum levels) to distribute time accurately.
- NTS (Network Time Security) adds authentication to NTP to prevent tampering and ensure server authenticity.
- QUIC-based time synchronization proposals exist but offer unclear benefits over NTS and may introduce jitter.
- Public time services like GPS are vulnerable to jamming; some countries adopt NTS for resilience.