Synchronizing PTPv1 and PVPv2 clients with one common time source

Abstract

Since the release of the first version of IEEE 1588 in 2002 a significant number of vendors released V1 compliant devices to the market. Since V1 compliant devices can be negatively affected by V2 compliant devices when they are operating in the same network segment, a scheme for synchronizing both V1 and V2 devices based on the same time source is required in order to allow end users to smoothly migrate to V2 while maintaining a common timebase among all their devices. The LXI Consortium, maintainer of the LXI (LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation) Standard for Test & Measurement designed a possible solution which requires a grandmaster clock with two separate network ports, one operating as a V1 and one as a V2 compliant grandmaster. This paper describes the implementation of such a device and the test setup that was used at the LXI Plug-fest in Toronto, Canada. The plug-fest was part of the LXI General Meeting which was hosted by Testforce Systems from May 20th to May 23rd, 2008.