IEEE 1588-based synchronization system for a displacement sensor network

Distribution of precise time reference in an Ethernet network allows the implementation of distributed measurement systems, overcoming the limitations of a complex architecture. This paper deals with a displacement sensor network that is built over Ethernet and synchronized according to IEEE 1588. Measurement devices share the same time reference, enabling accurate calculation of cross-derived quantities (multidimensional speed and acceleration). In this paper, a description of the sensor architecture is given, and attention is focused on the IEEE 1588 implementation. In particular, the proposed low-cost system does not use any dedicated synchronization hardware, but it can reduce the deviation from time reference down to 20 mu s.