Vodafone and NPL Pioneer New Precision Timing to Strengthen 5G Networks

The reliability of the Europe’s digital infrastructure increasingly depends on having multiple, resilient ways to keep networks precisely aligned in time. In a UK first, Vodafone and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s National Metrology Institute, have successfully tested a new, precise way for the network to keep time to within 40 nanoseconds.

Accurate Timekeeping

Accurate timekeeping is essential in the synchronisation and smooth running of every telecommunications network worldwide. Without it, there is a danger of network congestion and customer smartphones failing to connect.

The new time source tested by Vodafone and NPL, using its terrestrial-based, fast optical fibre technology, called NPLTime^®, provides a robust alternative to the industry’s current reliance on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Galileo constellations.

As Vodafone upgrades and expands its network with 5G-Advanced (the next evolution of 5G), it now needs greater timing accuracy in addition to meeting stringent frequency guidelines. Across all its European markets, Vodafone is looking to reduce its dependency on GNSS-based time synchronisation, incorporating other sources of time to enhance network resilience and security.

Atomic Clocks

Vodafone will also continue to embed atomic clocks in its network, which provide ultra-precise timekeeping, crucial for synchronising 5G networks, fibre communications, and data centres.

Together with NPL and other European Metrologic institutes, these new time sources will reduce Vodafone’s reliance on GNSS within its network. Collectively, these initiatives also support Vodafone’s wider network programme to further enhance the resilience in critical mobile infrastructure sites across Europe, and the company is open to future possibilities of alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) sources.

Marco Zangani, Director of Network Strategy and Architecture, Vodafone, said: “In the world of new 5G services, and in preparation for 6G, ultra precise and reliable synchronisation is critical for the proper functioning of a critical infrastructure. By working with European Metrologic institutes like NPL, we are advancing time accuracy and adding multiple layers of resilience and functionality to our pan-uropean network supporting millions of customers.”

First UK Operator

VodafoneThree began working with NPL last year and has become the first operator to test the performance of an alternative timing source provided by a terrestrial National Metrology Institute in its network timing infrastructure.

Dr Peter Thompson, CBE, CEO of NPL, said: “Accurate and resilient timing is fundamental to the UK’s digital infrastructure. This partnership with Vodafone showcases how UK innovation can deliver secure and resilient timing solutions. By leveraging NPL’s expertise in time dissemination we are helping the telecoms sector to strengthen the foundations for future technologies.”

NPL has been operating the UK’s national time scale, UTC – the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time – for the past 30 years. Its NPLTime^® service has supported the finance sector with regulatory compliance for the past eight years and is now being modified for telecoms use with Vodafone’s help. It will be designed to meet stringent standards ratified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the specialised United Nations agency for digital technologies, for signal accuracy, stability, resilience and traceability.

40 nanoseconds to more gains

More specifically, the new service will deliver a terrestrial reference signal that is traceable to UTC and can maintain accuracy within 40 nanoseconds. At the end of additional trials between NPL and Vodafone, the new service will meet the accuracy requirements of most sectors in the UK and offer the potential for telecommunications operators to extend the reach of a UK sovereign time source to other industries. Vodafone intend to replicate the same telecom time service across all its markets.

The NPL-Vodafone partnership builds on the UK government’s efforts to increase resilience for the Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) of the UK’s key digital infrastructure, as well as on NPL’s role in delivering the National Timing Centre (NTC) programme.

NPL - UK’s National Metrology Institute

NPL is the UK’s National Metrology Institute, providing the measurement capability that underpins many businesses and services, from new antibiotics to tackle resistance and more effective cancer treatments, to secure quantum communications and superfast 5G.

Based in Teddington, south-west London, NPL employs over 800 scientists. NPL also has regional bases across the UK, including at the University of Surrey, the University of Strathclyde, the University of Cambridge and the University of Huddersfield's 3M Buckley Innovation Centre.