Time Synchronization Mechanism for Radio Interferometer Array

In both wired and wireless networks, synchronization is an important service for a wide range of applications in distributed systems. This includes radio interferometry. However, literature researches show that many distributed protocols cannot satisfy sub-ns time synchronization accuracy due to asymmetric delay errors, accumulated jitters and because of the strategy used to adjust offsets. This paper proposes a global time synchronization algorithm in distributed networks. The algorithm allows us to minimize asymmetric delays with sub-ns accuracy better than 10ps and achieved global time synchronization. The theory of the algorithm used is presented and analysed to prove that it achieves global time synchronization. Simulation results are given to show the performance and limitations of the proposed algorithm.