Time server is widely used in industrial automation, precision measurement and control, military command information system and other fields.

Due to the dispersivity of physics, distributed systems can not provide a unified global clock for mutually independent modules, usually maintaining their respective local clocks by various processes or modules. These local clock operating environment and clock frequency are different. After a period of independent operation, these local clocks will be inconsistent, so the time synchronization operation must be carried out at regular intervals.        

Usually, each node needs frequent interaction data to realize communication or realize the measurement and control functions of the system, and time is absolutely necessary for data exchange. Different time standards of different modules in distributed systems will cause time warping, which may not only delay data, but also lead to inversion.

The time server solves the above problems well, and provides unified standard time information for each system.

For different applications, the accuracy requirement of time synchronization is different. For example, the synchronization accuracy in the field of telecommunications and communications generally requires ms or even s level; the power system requires synchronous accuracy of at least 1 s; the time synchronization accuracy of the military information system also reaches the level of s or even ns; and motion control, such as flight control, requires 100 ns for different security considerations or control accuracy requirements. The accuracy of the high frequency test is 1 ns.

One of the most important factors affecting time server price is the timing accuracy requirement in demand documents. Different precision requirements correspond to different time servers, different clock sources and time service modes. At present, the more widely used synchronization technologies are GPS, NTP, IRIG-B and IEEE 1588. The commonly used equipment models are SYN2136 SYN1502A IRIG-B code generator, SYN2401 type IEEE 1588 PTP time server and SYN2306C GPS Beidou timing navigation receiver.

In addition to the effect of timing accuracy on price, the timing accuracy requirement of clock source selection is also a major factor. The timing accuracy of time server is the accuracy of synchronous clock relying on the internal clock source without the external reference source. The general internal clock source can choose ordinary crystal oscillator, temperature compensation crystal oscillator, constant temperature crystal oscillator, rubidium atomic clock and so on. The voltage control crystal oscillator is the worst indicator and the price is the cheapest. The error is 2-3 seconds a day, the temperature compensation crystal oscillator is better, the error is less than 1s a day, the constant temperature crystal oscillator will be 1000 yuan more than the temperature compensated crystal oscillator, the index is a few days error MS, and the rubidium clock will cost 1-2 yuan more than the constant temperature crystal oscillator. Customers can choose the built-in clock source according to the user's actual application environment requirements.

In addition to the above two major factors, hardware cost, R & D cost and marketing cost will affect the price of time server. When selecting purchasing, the functions and technical requirements of the equipment, the strength of the equipment manufacturer, the cost performance of the product and the user budget need to be considered comprehensively.