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On time with SCION

by | May 15, 2023 | Blog

On time with SCION
Home > Blog > On time with SCION
15 May 2023

On time with SCION

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Introduction

Time synchronisation is a critical requirement for various industries, such as finance, telecommunications, transportation and power distribution. In the finance industry, it is essential for accurate and fair trading, as any time discrepancies could lead to regulatory violations or lost profits. Similarly, telecommunication companies need precise timing for cellular network operation, data transmission synchronisation and billing systems. The power distribution industry also requires synchronised time for coordination of power generation, distribution and consumption across the grid.

Today, time synchronisation across many devices or systems that are spread over various countries relies on global navigation satellite systems (GNSSes) such as GPS or Galileo. However, there are some widely recognised challenges with this approach in terms of reliability.

GNSS receivers can experience issues such as service interruptions, technical problems or deliberate attacks. These issues can cause disruptions and negatively impact the system’s availability, with unquantifiable repercussions on our society and economy. Additionally, natural disasters like solar superstorms can also significantly impact GNSSes, potentially rendering them unavailable.
Time for increased reliability with G-SINC

To address the reliability issue, a research team at ETH Zürich, has developed a new global time synchronisation approach called G-SINC, which makes use of the properties of a SCION network.

G-SINC achieves reliability by building upon global consensus-based time synchronisation protocols, which detect time inconsistencies and keep accurate time even if a fraction of global timekeepers become malicious. Thanks to the multi-path and availability properties of SCION, G-SINC offers a more robust, secure and accurate global time than current systems.
Ultimately, G-SINC powered by SCION provides increased reliability compared to the existing solutions and can be seamlessly integrated with current systems to provide a backup solution guarding against system failures.
Critical industries that depend on reliable time synchronisation can benefit from G-SINC to ensure the smooth operation of their businesses.


READ THE RESEARCH PAPER https://netsec.ethz.ch/publications/papers/G-SINC.pdf