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R&D Projects

R&D Projects hosted by the Collaboration aim to:

  • demonstrate applicability of WR in a new domain
  • improve the technology to facilitate its uptake

Projects can be executed by a sub-set of members of the collaboration or by a single member. The Bureau will be there to provide support to the R&D projects.

These are some of the topics we are currently discussing within the Collaboration, for which we would like to set-up R&D projects. If you want to learn more click on the links below. If you would like to participate reach out to us and join the Collaboration!

  • White Rabbit Resilient Time Transfer. This aims at creating a WR-based network in which you can lose any source of time or any link and carry on with sub-nanosecond synchronisation throughout and after the perturbation. To find out more, click here
  • High-accuracy and high-precision White Rabbit. This groups together a number of lines of action, all aiming to make White Rabbit more accurate and precise. To find out more, click here. 
  • White Rabbit Timing. This is a layer on top of WR to send messages and react to them by providing pulses and/or interrupts. To find out more, click here. 

Current Projects

Final developments of the new WR Switch

CERN and GMV are working together to finalise the development of the newest version of the switch (v4) and turn it into a product

The new switch will bring several improvements, including: 

  • Redundant and field-replaceable fans and power supplies.
  • Slot for a plug-in board to customise and enhance the switch.
  • 10GbE support.

The open-source design of the new switch will become part of the WR Technology, available for industry to commercialise.

GMV was awarded a £2 million contract to provide this new White Rabbit Switch, suited for protecting UK’s infrastructure.  Learn more this here.

The development of the WRSv4 has been ongoing for several years, find out more here.

Adding Holdover Capabilities to
the new WR Switch

IQD and GMV are working together to add holdover capabilities to the new WR Switch. The Bureau is supporting the developments

The new switch will have the possibility of inserting expansion boards to add new functionalities. IQD is developing the first expansion board for the switch. The expansion board will include IQD's ICPT-1, a quantum atomic clock, which will be synchronised and disciplined to the clock on the main WRS. In the event that the main WRS detects that it is no longer locked to an external source, it will revert to the time signal from the ICPT-1 thus maintaining internal time and downstream time, aka holdover.  

IQD has already identified possible applications including switching to a redundant system after fault detections; during this event the holdover board would keep the WRS clock within a few nano seconds of the original signal, thus meaning no lock or time errors caused during the swap.

ICPT-1
Designed into the WR Switch v4 is the ICPT-1, a rubidium oscillator designed using the Coherent Population Trap method. The ICPT-1 provides security and accuracy of signal continuity in case of temporary signal losses with its exceptional holdover ability, and can enable stability of accurate signals down to the picosecond level. This is the first time that holdover has been addressed in the White Rabbit environment, and IQD is at the forefront of this technology.

Read more about IQD's contribution here. 

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