Elproma NTS-pico3 User manual

NTS-pico3
Miniature NTP Time Server for Small Networks
User Manual
Date: 07.08.2019

Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Safety instructions 3
What is NTS-pico3? 3
Installation 4
Hardware 4
General presentation 4
Antenna Mounting 6
Additional lightning protection considerations 7
Powering up 10
Basic SETUP 10
IP addressing 10
Monitoring GNSS satellite signals ON-LINE 12
Running NTP (Network Time Protocol) 13
Configuring NTP 13
Monitoring NTP on-line 14
Synchronizing Microsoft Windows clock 15
Synchronizing Linux & Mac OSX clock 15
Running PTP (Precision Time Protocol) 16
APPENDIX 18
Technical Specification 18
GNSS Antenna 18

Introduction
Safety instructions
Except external power supply (230VAC), this equipment contains DC(9-30VDC) voltages.
Do not handle any metallic part until the 230VAC power supply has been disconnected!
Do not assemble, disassemble set when the power reminds switched ON. Making wiring
and touching cables is strongly prohibited when power is ON. Never work alone under
hazardous voltage conditions. Always check that the power cord(s), plug(s), and sockets
are in good conditions. Always use qualified service personnel to install permanently wired
equipment and surge antenna arrestors.
What is NTS-pico3?
NTS-pico3 is next generation ultra miniature time server. It delivers time directly to
network using NTP and PTP/IEEE1588 protocols. It is equipped with single 100/10Mbps
Ethernet port working with IPv4/IPv6*. Unit is very small and natural air cooling. It has
been designed for small industrial networks and it can operate 24/7. It is powered in range
9-30VDC. It is equipped with GNSS antenna and 30 meter coax cable (SMA ended).
Marine antenna has built-in GPS signal amplifier (38dB gain) and TCXO holdover
oscillator for GNSS less operations.
With hardware timestamping NTS-pico3 can achive accuracy < 200ns. Server has multi-
satellites receiver simultaneously supporting: GPS, GLONASS. It is GALIELO*, BEIDOU*
ready. Server has very fast (less than 0.5ms +/- 1ppm) Time To First Fix TTFF
synchronization startup. The GNSS receiver accuracy is better than 15ns (at 2 sigma).
Server supports cryptographic authentication for NTP. Holdover mode ensure
synchronization accuracy to be better than 4ms in first hour. After 24h the max. holdover
error is not bigger than 100ms on server output.
NTS-pico3 id dedicated for up 10 pcs networks

The NTS-pico3 GNSS receiver is designed for automatic operation without the need for
user intervention. It can however, be accessed via a serial port (rs232 or USB) for
configuration and debug purposes. Following synchronization Ethernet protocols are
supported:
●NTP Network Time Protocol (rfc5905)
●SNTP Simple NTP (rfc 4330)
●PTP Precision Time Protocol IEEE1588:2008
Referential UTC is drawn from GPS & Glonass via built-in GNSS receiver, using
NMEA183 frame. NTS-pico3 can also act as an 1PPS frequency reference clock. It can
distribute 1PPS using NTP or PTP IEE1588 protocol. It has also 1 SMA 1PPS output.

Installation
Hardware
The NTS-pico3 box on arrive includes:
1. NTS-pico3 miniature time server (pcs 1)
2. Power supply 12VDC/230VAC (pcs 1)
3. Outdoor active GNSS antenna w/ 30m coax H-155 and accessories (pcs 1)
Options (not included in standard set):
4. Ethernet cable 1m RJ45/RJ45 (pcs 1)
5. RS232 cable 1m DB-9/RJ45 (pcs 1)
Note! Set does not include antenna mast, but antenna can be mounted directly using
attached accessories: claps, bracket, nuts etc. - they are included.
General presentation
NTS-pico3 includes:
●1x GNSS (SMA)
●1x Pwr (VDC)
●1x 1PPS (SMA)
NTS-pico3 picture view

Antenna Mounting
Installing a basic system will require the following (a) mounting of the antenna (b)
optionally mounting 1 or 2 lightning arrestors (not included to product set).The antenna
supplied is of the active type, and is suitable for almost all applications. It is supplied with
a pre-attached, 30-meter H-155 coax cable, terminated with a male SMA connector.
Before commencing installation, check that all the items detailed in the contents list have
been supplied. The antenna is supplied with mounting clamps for attachment to a
mounting pole, included too. Mast antenna suspension (H=0.5m) is not included but it is
available as separate products from Elproma. Following figure shows an example of how
mounting antenna might be achieved.
Mounting GNSS antenna
Note! The most important consideration in selecting a position for the antenna is the
presence of objects which obscure the sky or horizon. Where possible, there should be
no obstruction to a full view of the sky.
Overhead wires and other very narrow obstructions may be considered as invisible to the
signals, provided that they are a few meters away. Large flat surfaces can decrease
performance of the receiver. Be especially wary about mounting the antenna directly onto
the fascia of a flat roof. To overcome this situation, elevate the pole about 1 meter above
the flat surface. A satellite prediction mobile phone program may usefully be employed to
check a potential installation, and also to identify directions in which obstructions may be
a particular source of problems.
Note! When the NTS-pico3 is operational, the GNSS antenna assembly may be
disconnected for short periods (e.g. maintenance or repair) without interruption to the unit
synchronization LAN output.

Additional lightning protection considerations
As the antenna is roof mounted (to have a clear view of the sky) it is likely to be exposed
to lightning strikes.
Protection against this is afforded by ensuring adequate grounding of the mountings as
described below. There is no way to provide 100% protection for electronic equipment
from direct strike damage. It is possible however, to reduce the likelihood of damage from
near strike induced fields by ensuring the installation obeys some fundamental rules.
A proprietary lightning arrestor should be installed, of a type which does not reduce GNSS
signal transfer. Install the lightning arrestor near to the antenna (e.g. on the mounting
pole), ensuring all connections maintain electrical and environmental protection.
After taking the precautions described previously in the antenna installation, it should be
understood that a destructive residual current may still be present in the cable coming
down from the antenna to the NTS-pico3 unit.
A second lightning arrestor should be installed near to the NTS-pico3 to further dissipate
any remaining lightning energy. At the earth end please use multiple connection points if
at all possible.

All connections should incorporate as large an area of contact as possible, which is made
more probable by the use of large bolts, and substantial washers. Where there is no
access to the metal framework of the building, it is absolutely imperative to erect a suitable
lightning conductor. Failure to do so is almost certain to result in destruction of NTS-pico3
and connected into it equipment in the event of the antenna receiving a near lightning
strike.
Grounding system

NTS-pico3 surge protection

Powering up
1. Connect GNSS antenna to SMA connector at NTS-pico3
2. Connect Ethernet LAN cable to RJ45 connector
3. Plug-in DC power supply to power input and turn power ON
Basic SETUP
Go to your web browser and put IP address 192.168.1.234/255.255.255.0.
You will be asked for username and password. By defaults are:
Username: admin
Password: 12345
IP addressing
Minimum configuration requires setup IPv4
On LAN configuration page you can find essential parameters needed for LAN
connection. Here you can set IPv4 address, mask, default gateway.

IMPORTANT NOTE!
For time synchronization purpose please do not use DHCP/DNS.
You will need to keep SSH communication ON for GNSS signals tracing.
SSH enable (ON) and password is necessary for tracing on-line GNSS signals

Monitoring GNSS satellite signals ON-LINE
You SSH communication must be switched on first. Please execute from window
terminal following commands:
ssh r[email protected] -p 65535
r[email protected]'s password: 12345
[root@rbmtx ~]# TERM=vt220
[root@rbmtx ~]# gpsmon
GPSmon tool let you trace satellite signals on-line
This screen is the tool to monitor GNSS (GPS & Glonass) satellite signal performance.
You should be able to receive signals from at least not less than 4 satellites. Well done
installation mostly let view 10-20 GNSS satellites in view. It takes approx. 5-10 minutes
since power on to get minimum #sats in view.
Recommendation!
For Linux/Unix and Mac OSX please use BASH std. terminal.
For Microsoft Windows there are various of 3rd party SSH software suppliers. One of the most popular one
is free available putty.exe

Running NTP (Network Time Protocol)
Configuring NTP
NTS-pico3 firmware starts NTP server and synchronizes to UTC time received from GPS
by default. You can add backup NTP servers in NTP Peer 1...3 fileds.

Monitoring NTP on-line
You SSH communication must be switched onfirst. Please execute fromwindow terminal
following commands:
ssh r[email protected] -p 65535
r[email protected]'s password: 12345
[root@rbmtx ~]# ntpq
You can use full spectrum of std. NTP monitoring tools incl. ntpq and ntpdc to trace and
monitor Network Time Protocol. For more information please ref. to www.ntp.org
ntpq debugging tool for NTP

Synchronizing Microsoft Windows clock
You simply synchronize any version of Microsoft Windows by simple selecting “Time from
Internet” and providing NTS-pico3 IPv4 . Below there is example for Windows 10.
Using NTS-pico3 as primary source of NTP time for Microsoft Windows
Synchronizing Linux & Mac OSX clock
Both Linux and OSX included built-in NTP protocol. You can simple manually modify
ntp.conf file by providing your NTS-pico3 IPv4 address, however we recommend to use
similar Microsoft Windows high level OS Time & Date operations.

Running PTP (Precision Time Protocol)
Switching on PTP enables PTP grandmaster daemon.
PTP options:
Transport layer
L2 (Ethernet): PTP packets are encapsulated directly in Ethernet frames (IEEE 802.3
network transport)
L4 (UDP): PTP packets are exchanged over UDP/IPv4
IP mode
The option available for L4 (UDP) transport layer only.
●multicast (default)
●unicast
●hybrid mode
Multicast for SYNC and announce packets, unicast for delay request and response
packets.
Delay mechanism
E2E (default)
Delay is measured end-to-end. Delay is calculated for the whole path:
grandmaster/master/boundary clock - transparent clocks - slave ordinary clock
(GM/MC/BC - TC - OC/SC).

P2P
Delay is measured peer-to-peer. If transparent clocks are present in a network they
need to support peer-delay mechanism (and be configured to enable it).
SYNC interval (default 1)
SYNC packet interval value must be in range -7....7 (recommended limits are -3...3).
-4: 62.5ms (1/16 s)
-3: 125ms (1/8 s)
-2: 250ms (1/4 s)
-1: 0.5s (1/2 s)
0: 1 second (typical interval)
1: 2 seconds (default)
2: 4 seconds
3: 8 seconds
4: 16 seconds

Troubleshooting
To troubleshoot NTS-pico3 you need first to log into device console using serial cable or SSH.
How to check if PTP is working?
From NTS-pico3 console you can check if ptp process is running. If everything is fine, you shall
get 1 in return:
If there is no ptp process you will get 0 (make sure, that you have enabled PTP in web panel):
How to check if NTS-pico3 sends PTP messages?
To check if NTS-pico3 is actually sending PTP IEEE1588 messages over your LAN network you
use tcpdump utility and see if PTP frames are going out of device:
1) PTP L2 (Ethernet)
To see only PTP (0x88F7) Ethernet packets:
2) PTP L4 (UDP)
To capture PTP UDP transmission we need to dump tcp packets going to ports 319 and 320:

APPENDIX
Technical Specification
model NTS-pico3
Miniature Time Server
Antenna
interface
1x SMA
holdover OSC
TCXO
std. GNSS
GPS, GLONASS
sync PROTOCOL
NTP, PTP IEEE1588
extra* GNSS
GALILLEO*, BEIDOU*
NTP
RFC5905,RFC1305, RFC5906 ,
RFC5907,RFC5908,RFC5909
#SBAS
EGNOS, WAAS, GAGAN
SNTP
RFC4330, RFC2030, RFC1769
FREQ #1
1575.42MHz (L1 GPS)
PTP
IEEE1588: 2008
FREQ #2
1598.06-1605.38MHz GLONASS
1pps OUTPUT
1x SMA*
#CHANNELS
32
Time/DAYTIME
RFC(867-8)*
antenna
DISTANCE
30m coax H155
#LAN
1
interface
rs232
1x RJ45
speed LAN
100/10Mbps (RJ45)
interface USB
2.0
1x Micro-USB
TCP/IP
IPv4, IPv6*, TCP, UDP
weight NETTO
0.3kG (3kG BRUTTO)
MANAGEMENT
HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, TELNET
operating
TEMP
-20C+70C
SECURITY
Autokey, DSA, SSL, MD5, RSA
storage TEMP
-40C+85C
SYSLOG
yes
%HUMIDITY
up to 95%

hardware
STAMPING*
accuracy < 200ns
POWER
9-30VDC
software
STAMPING
accuracy < 800us
* extra feature