Highly Accurate Synchronization Over Ethernet

Time and timing is everything and everywhere from catching a train to synchronizing machines in a production hall. The key issue of all communicating systems is synchronization. Today’s sensor networks are growing larger and more complex every day, creating a demand for simple and scalable networks, whereby data and clock distribution is shared by means of one single interface. High end systems like PET scanners demand a high level of synchronization up to 50 picoseconds or less. This thesis focuses on highly accurate, sub nanosecond synchronization of system clocks for large sensor networks using a single interface for both high speed data communication and clock distribution. In this work different technologies for frequency matching, phase steering and phase measurement for FPGA implementations are compared. The verification and optimization of today’s best technology is presented, including a novel Wheatstone based technique.Embedded systemsMicroelectronics & Computer EngineeringElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc