GPS satellites announce their orbit as well.

But NTP works pretty well in the face of changing path delays. Saying that Starlink and other LEO internet systems breaks them depends on the accuracy that you are looking for. yes the path length changes over the 15 min that you are on a satellite, but how much does it change?

Now, I really wish that Starlink would have the dish act as a NTP server based on it's GPS receiver, that would settle the issue.

David Lang


On Tue, 2 Apr 2024, Sebastian Moeller via Starlink wrote:

Hi Hesham,


On 2. Apr 2024, at 00:04, Hesham ElBakoury <helbako...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Christian,
The problems is that Satellites move, therefore, the delay between the different directions is different which violates the condition to run NTP and PTP.

But GPS Satellites themselves are not in geostationary oprbit, and still we can 
get precision time from them... so I would argue that must be a solved problem, 
no?

Regards
        Sebastian


Hesham

On Sat, Mar 2, 2024, 8:19 AM Christian von der Ropp <c...@vdr.net> wrote:
Hi Hesham,

You do not acquire the time from a LEO satellite but directly from the GPS 
satellites which carry an atomic clock on board.
I'd not be aware of any LEO providing a GNSS signal but Xona plan such system 
(although not carrying proper atomic clocks but probably chip-sized atomic 
clocks that require frequent syncing with proper atomic clocks):
https://twitter.com/Megaconstellati/status/1708091536439673323

There are efforts to build trapped-ion quantum clocks that are expected to 
become significantly smaller and cheaper than traditional atomic clocks while 
as accurate which would make it viable to put an atomic clock-equivalent on 
small LEO satellites. Once that happens you would have an independent 
alternative to the big GNSS birds in MEO but with stronger signals. I'm told 
that we are 5-10 years away from such trapped-ion quantum clocks.

But for NTP clients, the described method (running a local NTP server in the 
satellite terminal synced to GPS) should be good enough.

Christian


Am 2. März 2024 18:02:47 OEZ schrieb Hesham ElBakoury <helbako...@gmail.com>:
Hi Christian,
How you synchronize the time of the satellites in the network? Are you saying 
each satellite has a master clock?

Hesham

On Sat, Mar 2, 2024, 7:38 AM Christian von der Ropp <c...@vdr.net> wrote:
Why not acquire the time directly from by the satellite terminal and run local 
NTP servers instead of syncing via the Internet? LEO satellite terminals always 
have onboard GNSS antennas for geolocation which is necessary to find the 
satellites, so integrating a local GNSS-disciplined Stratum-1 NTP server seems 
trivial to me.


Am 2. März 2024 17:25:59 OEZ schrieb Hesham ElBakoury via Starlink 
<starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net>:
Hi Sebastian,
Can we still use PTP and NTP for time synchronization in  Satellite networks or 
we need new protocols? If we need new protocols, do such protocols exist?

Thanks
Hesham

On Sat, Mar 2, 2024, 7:18 AM Sebastian Moeller <moell...@gmx.de> wrote:
Hi Hesham

> On 2. Mar 2024, at 16:03, Hesham ElBakoury via Starlink 
<starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
> > Time synchronization, for satellite networks, faces several challenges:
> 1. Signal Propagation Delays: Unlike terrestrial networks where signals 
travel through cables at the speed of light,

[SM] The speed of light in your typical glas fibers (and accidentally the information propagation speed in metallic conductors) comes in roughly at 2/3 of the speed of light in vacuum, while the speed of light in air at see level is a mere 90 KM/s slower than in vacuum.
> satellite communication involves signals traveling vast distances through 
space. This creates significant delays.

[SM] Sure distances might be larger, but propagation speed is around 100000Km/s 
faster... my main point is speed of light is a) dependent on the medium b) not 
the things that differentiates space from the earth's surface here, but mere 
geometry and larger distances on larger spheres...

> 2. Clock Drift: Even highly precise atomic clocks, used in satellites, are susceptible 
to "drift" - gradually losing or gaining time. This drift, caused by factors like 
temperature variations, radiation exposure, and power fluctuations, can lead to 
inconsistencies in timekeeping across the network.
> 3. Signal Degradation: As signals travel through space, they can degrade due to factors like atmospheric interference, ionospheric disturbances, and solar activity. This degradation can introduce noise and errors, impacting the accuracy of time synchronization messages. > 4. Limited Resources: Satellites have limited power and processing capabilities. Implementing complex synchronization protocols can be resource-intensive, requiring careful optimization to minimize their impact on other functionalities.
> 5. Evolving Technologies: As satellite technologies and applications continue 
to evolve, new challenges related to synchronization might emerge. For example, 
the integration of constellations with thousands of satellites poses unique 
synchronization challenges due to the sheer scale and complexity of the network.
> These challenges necessitate the development of robust and efficient time 
synchronization protocols for satellite networks and an integrated satellite and  
terrestrial networks
> Are you aware of such time synchronization protocols?
> I would think that using Satellite simulators is the most viable way to 
develop and test these protocols given that using satellites is not that easy.
> Thanks
> Hesham
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> Starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net
> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/starlink

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