Verification of precision time protocol synchronization accuracy in 5G hardware

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Volume Title

School of Electrical Engineering | Master's thesis

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Date

2025-05-26

Department

Major/Subject

Communications Engineering

Mcode

Degree programme

Master's Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences

Language

en

Pages

37

Series

Abstract

Time synchronization is a crucial aspect of networking. It is especially integral in the fith generation (5G) mobile networks. This technology utilizes many solutions which introduce demanding time constraints. One example of such solutions is Virtualized Radio Access Network (VRAN) where the Baseband Unit (BBU) is split into a virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) and a virtualized Centralized Unit (vCU). Such split, together with moving the hardware farther from the cell site to the network edge, requires a very strict time synchronization in the network. Since it is not always possible to provide a time reference to the cell using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antenna, Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is deployed as an alternative. In this thesis, a method of verifying synchronization accuracy in a proprietary hardware, a vDU utilizing PTP, is implemented. The verification is done by measuring a time error between the device under test and a testing device which serves as a time reference. Different scenarios were tested in this thesis. The obtained results demonstrate that PTP provides timing information of good quality, allowing the device under test to achieve time error between 0 and 122 ns. Moreover, the synchronization algorithm used in the device under test enabled a very quick drop of the initially observed time error to values smaller than 10 ns.

Description

Supervisor

Jäntti, Riku

Thesis advisor

Mäki, Jussi

Keywords

PTP, synchronization, VRAN, Cloud RAN, mobile networks, 5G

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202506174899

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[dipl] Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu / ELEC