Skip to content

W
White Rabbit

News

Last edited by OHWR Gitlab support
Page history

04-02-2019: Job vacancy at GSI

added by Erik van der Bij on 2019-02-04 10:00:28.977917

GSI has opened a vacancy for a job that that is about GSI's new White Rabbit based timing system:

Embedded Systems Developer (m/f), B.Sc., M.Sc. or Diploma in Electronics, Computer-Science or equivalent
For full details see the job description.

GSI offers an initial contract of 5 years.
For more information, don't hesitate to contact:
Dietrich BECK
Tel: +49 6159 71 2520
E-mail: d.beck@gsi.de

04-02-2019: Job vacancy at GSI

added by Erik van der Bij on 2019-02-04 10:00:19.200955

GSI has opened a vacancy for a job that that is about GSI's new White Rabbit based timing system:

Embedded Systems Developer (m/f), B.Sc., M.Sc. or Diploma in Electronics, Computer-Science or equivalent
For full details see the job description.

GSI offers an initial contract of 5 years.
For more information, don't hesitate to contact:
Dietrich BECK
Tel: +49 6159 71 2520
E-mail: d.beck@gsi.de

24-01-2019: WR Job vacancy at Besancon Observatory

added by Erik van der Bij on 2019-01-24 16:25:08.379511

A 1-year postdoctoral position is available at the Besancon Observatory (France, 47.241499034N 5.987162718E) on time transfer.
While the original interest lies in using GNSS for time transfer, including security aspects of GNSS spoofing and multi-constellation data fusion, we wish to extend the work on White Rabbit time transfer from a user perspective.
Indeed, a WR network spanning from the FEMTO-ST Time & Frequency department to the Besancon Observatory and teaching department of the university is operational and is now to be used for distributed signal generation and radiofrequency signal acquisition. Thus, the work would focus on using existing White Rabbit enabled ADC hardware, WR-synchronized DDS and data transfer.

If interested, please contact JM Friedt for further information.

--
JM Friedt - jmfriedt@femto-st.fr
FEMTO-ST Time & Frequency/SENSeOR, 26 rue de l'Epitaphe, 25000 Besancon, France

15-11-2018: EC Webinar 5 Dec: OSHW for science & beyond...

added by Erik van der Bij on 2018-11-15 15:55:18.221035

Webinar: How to foster open source hardware for science and beyond: the WR project

Javier Serrano (CERN) and the Open Science Monitor Consortium will share the lessons learnt from White Rabbit case and discuss on how to foster open source scientific hardware in Europe.

The webinar will take place on 5 December 2018, from 14:00 to 15:00 (CET). Feel free to share the link with other people if you think they could be interested. Also, if you have opinions and information you would like to share and discuss with Javier in preparation of this webinar, please contact him directly.

You may also be interested in the related White Rabbit - Open Science Monitor Case Study that is published by the European Commission.

02-08-2018: Job vacancy at GSI

added by Erik van der Bij on 2018-08-02 13:05:47.225175

GSI has opened a vacancy for a job that is very much Control Systems related and that will surely will touch systems using White Rabbit:
Embedded Systems Developer (m/f) B.Sc., M.Sc. or Diploma in Electronics, Computer-Science or equivalent.
For full details see the job description.

23-02-2018: WR Job vacancy at GSI

added by Erik van der Bij on 2018-02-23 09:30:24.396544

GSI has opened a vacancy for a job that is very much White Rabbit related:

Project Leader Timing System of FAIR Accelerators,
M.Sc. or Diploma in physics, electronics, computing or equivalent

For full details see the job description.

12-09-2017: PTP Trackhound smells the White Rabbit

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-09-12 07:35:57.995544

| The software PTP Track Hound which can capture and analyze PTP network traffic now understands White Rabbit TLVs. So the Track Hound can now sniff the tracks that the White Rabbit leaves behind.
Track Hound is made freely available by Meinberg. One may want to know that the source code is not available under an Open Licence. | https://www.ptptrackhound.com/images/logo_blue_256.png |

29-08-2017: Geodetic station connected with WR to UTC(MIKE)

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-08-30 09:41:19.438248

MIKES, the centre for metrology and accreditation of Finland, has connected the Metsähovi Geodetic Research Station to the official time of Finland, UTC[MIKE]

Some quotes from the article Metsähovi connected to the official time of Finland:

The time transfer to Metsähovi, Kirkkonummi, occurs from the UTC-laboratory at VTT MIKES Metrology in Otaniemi via optical fibre using the White Rabbit protocol. VTT MIKES Metrology has been an early adopter of the White Rabbit technology for time transfer across long distances. White Rabbit was developed at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

The measurements show, for example, how the travel time of light each way in a 50-kilometre fibre optic cable varies by approx. 7 nanoseconds within a 24-hour period as temperature changes affect the properties of the fibre optic cable, particularly its length.

The uncertainty of time transfer is expected to be 100 ps or better. The precision of frequency transfer is currently approx. 15 digits.

Note that the image in the article shows also the High performance 8-channel Pulse and Frequency distribution amplifier that Anders Wallin from MIKES designed and made available as Open Hardware.

31-07-2017: WR Switch Production Test Suite published

added by Grzegorz Daniluk on 2017-07-31 18:11:26.135962

For the past few months we were working with INCAA Computers BV on a new WR Switch Production Test Suite. This
system allows to verify during the production or after delivery that all the components of the WR Switch hardware work properly.
Please check the WRS PTS wiki page for all the sources and documentation.

19-06-2017: WR Job vacancy at CERN

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-06-19 14:15:30.374068

CERN has opened a vacancy for a job that is very much White Rabbit related, for applications which need extreme precision:
Design Engineer - Analogue electronics

26-04-2017: WR Job vacancy at OPNT - NL

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-04-26 12:11:23.610653

OPNT in The Netherlands has opened a vacancy for a job that is very much White Rabbit related:
R&D Manager with profile: Time&Frequency, Network synchronization, PTP White Rabbit

18-04-17: clean that fibre and SFP!

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-04-18 17:49:06.105880

The White Rabbit team at CERN organised a short course about fibre-optic cleaning and inspection*.

A special fibre inspection microscope that automatically analyses the image to decide if a cable or SFP passes or fails the norms was demonstrated.
The images of some of the often-used cables and SFP modules that we picked from the development lab, showed clearly traces of grease and dust.

*The course showed undoubtedly that fibres should always be inspected and that in almost all cases they should be cleaned before plugging in.
One should not forget to inspect and clean the SFP side either!*

The slides of this Fibre Cleaning and Inspection course are available via the OHWR Electronics Design project.

Thanks to Amin Shoaie from CERN's EN-EL group for making this course available.
Note that this course and the practical exercises will be repeated at CERN in the last week of April. Please contact us if you are interested.

Click on image to see the course (pdf, 711kB)

Tutorial at ICALEPCS conference in October

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-03-30 13:59:06.832107

The ICALEPCS organizing committee will organize a pre-conference workshop on WR in Barcelona in October.

We intend to make this more of a "WR tutorial." and we think there will be something to learn and discuss for everybody: newcomers, casual users and even experts.

Online registration will open on April 17. Registration for the workshop is independent of registration to the conference. If you register, it will be a great pleasure to see you there. Also, please send me comments on the program if you have any. We still have a bit of freedom to change it if need be.

And of course, please forward this to any other people you think could be interested!

Javier

23-02-2017: WR Job vacancy at CERN

added by Erik van der Bij on 2017-02-23 13:21:26.253909

CERN has opened a vacancy for a job that is very much White Rabbit related:
Electronics and networking engineer

Furthermore another, more general HDL developer job is opened:
HDL Developer

06-09-2016: New papers

added by Erik van der Bij on 2016-09-06 14:55:20.675196

Two new White Rabbit papers have been published recently:

CSN1 Spanish TV

added by Erik van der Bij on 2016-06-27 18:37:41.126552

The visit of a CERN delegation to the Universidad de Granada and to the company Seven Solutions on 24 June was presented on the news of the Andalucía regional TV station CSN1.
The most notable star in the video was the white rabbit that was silently listening to the discussion while sitting on a White Rabbit Switch.

13-06-16: A job with White Rabbit

added by Erik van der Bij on 2016-06-13 11:24:22.864903

Workshop 14-16 March in Amsterdam

added by Erik van der Bij on 2016-01-28 10:46:15.319383

The Ninth White Rabbit Workshop will be held in Amsterdam from 14 to 16 March 2016 and is organized by NIKHEF.
If you're interested in meeting the developers and users, please find everything about it on the Ninth White Rabbit Workshop page.
Note that the no fees are charged.

Note that the presentations from previous workshops are available.
Many people responsible for the projects mentioned in the latest White Rabbit Newsletter will also be present in Amsterdam.

04-01-2016: Newsletter out

added by Erik van der Bij on 2016-01-04 09:32:03.426664

The yearly White Rabbit Newsletter is out.

15-12-15: Pickin’ up good vibrations in CERN Bulletin

added by Erik van der Bij on 2015-12-15 11:50:38.208795

In preparation for the civil engineering work on the HL-LHC at CERN, vibration measurements were carried out at the LHC’s Point 1 last month. These measurements help evaluate how civil engineering work could impact the beam, and will provide crucial details about the site’s geological make-up before construction begins.
...
Geophone sensors to measure vibrations in the ground were placed around the vibration sources at the surface, linked to the underground geophones using the LHC “White Rabbit” synchronisation network. This allowed the team to look at the effects of the vibrations at the same time.

Read more in the CERN Bulletin article Pickin’ up good vibrations.

07-12-2015: WR in deep sea: 3500m depth, 100km off coast

added by Erik van der Bij on 2015-12-07 14:56:34.923806

On 3 December 2015 a first line with 18 Digital Optical Modules, each one containing a White Rabbit PTP Core - WRPC, was deployed successfully and communicated over 100 Km of fiber with the shore station.
This installation is 100 km into the sea off the coast of Italy at 3500 meter depth and must be the weirdest and harshest place to install WR nodes.
This is a first step in the installation of KM3NET, a European deep-sea research infrastructure hosting a neutrino telescope.

See also:

12-11-2015: WR used in seismic measurements

added by Erik van der Bij on 2015-11-13 11:21:00.546110

CERN is trying to decide whether they can start Civil Engineering for the Hi-Luminosity project while the beam is on. The alignment of magnets is very delicate in the LHC and very slight variations thereof can produce beam instabilities. This is important because the potential impact on the overall schedule is big. The CERN EN-MME group has teamed up with the city of Geneva to have a shaker truck shake the ground and feel the impact down in the pit at point 1 (ATLAS), so as to have an indication of what to expect during real civil engineering work. The excitation and the sensors are separated by a few hundred meters, and they need to be synchronized, which is why they requested a WR link.

The WR team received the following report:
As it was planned in the best schedule, the first set of vibration measurements was performed on 12 November during core drilling operation at point 1. We took measurements for several depths 10,20,30,40,50 and 60m. Seismic sensors connected to spectrum analyzer in UJ16 were perfectly synchronized with the same equipment at the surface thanks to BE-CO team.

Equipment used in this project:

Other Users of White Rabbit Technology.

12-06-2015: first beam with WR based timing system at GSI

added by Erik van der Bij on 2015-06-12 10:11:20.208923

GSI in Germany reported that for the first time there is a beam in the injector of CRYRING at GSI controlled by a White Rabbit based timing system.
The White Rabbit system controls the beam chopper of the CRYRING linac section YRLE "[1]":https://www-acc.gsi.de/wikis/Timing/TimingSystemGroupsAndMachines\#CRYRING and triggers the data acquisition of beam instrumentation to detect the signal of the pulsed beam after the chopper "[2]":https://www-acc.gsi.de/wikis/pub/Timing/WebHome/YRT1DC2_2015-06-09_16-28-26.049.png.

"This is an incredible milestone, reaching the destination that was envisioned seven years ago when the White Rabbit project was set up "[3]":http://indico.cern.ch/event/28233/ ", Erik van der Bij said, "from the start, GSI, CERN and numerous partners from institutes and industry have been working in a tight collaboration to make this happen".

[1] https://www-acc.gsi.de/wikis/Timing/TimingSystemGroupsAndMachines\#CRYRING
[2] https://www-acc.gsi.de/wikis/pub/Timing/WebHome/YRT1DC2_2015-06-09_16-28-26.049.png
[3] http://indico.cern.ch/event/28233/

VLBI Workshop presentations available

added by Erik van der Bij on 2015-05-12 11:57:53.095928

The Third International VLBI Technology Workshop featured four presentations (out of 55) with White Rabbit.
These workshops, which evolved from the highly successful 10-year series of International e-VLBI workshops, aim to encompass all areas of hardware or software development relevant to VLBI.

These very interesting presentations are now available. Please see the table below.

RadioNet3 ERATec Engineering Special Session
hosted by the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
10 - 13 November 2014, Groningen/Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
http://www.jive.nl/ivtw2014/abstracts.php

Presentations

Author Title and Abstract
Boven, Paul Title: Using VLBI to demonstrate long-haul fiber-optic frequency transfer
Abstract:
Time transfer over fiber optic links opens two exciting possibilities for VLBI. Firstly, it enables the dissemination of an even higher quality clock to observatories, compared to the performance of the H-masers commonly in use. This can improve the sensitivity in e.g. space-based VLBI and astrometry. It will also do away with the need to perform clock-searches. Secondly, it allows to deliver a frequency reference with suitable stability for VLBI, to telescopes that do not have (the budget for) an H-maser. This would make it possible to expand the VLBI arrays with e.g. telecon dishes converted for radio astronomy. An interesting use case of this is the nascent African VLBI Network.
In the Asterics proposal that we recently submitted, we hope to demonstrate the feasibility of using White Rabbit to transfer the WSRT H-maser signal via fiber optics to the Dwingeloo Radio telescope, and measure fringes between these two telescopes.
Jansweijer, Peter Title: Implementing White Rabbit in your design
Abstract: Distribution of time throughout large infrastructures has been an issue for many decades. In recent years work has been done by the White Rabbit developers community to provide a fully deterministic Ethernet-based network for general purpose data transfer and synchronization at sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds precision for large distributed systems. White Rabbit enhances the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and is currently the most accurate PTP implementation.
White Rabbit has got the attention of many people, and today the number of users and applications in different fields, worldwide, is increasing.
Following a brief overview of White Rabbit, this talk will explain how to make your own hardware White Rabbit capable. It will mainly focus on the technical aspects of such an implementation.
Koelemeij, Jeroen Title: Methods for data, time and ultrastable frequency transfer through long-haul fiber-optic links
Abstract:
Tightly synchronized time and frequency references are essential for astronomical observations via distributed antenna arrays, such as VLBI. Typical synchronization solutions make use of GPS radio signals and/or stand-alone atomic clocks like hydrogen masers. Recently, several research groups have developed and demonstrated fiber-optic methods for time and frequency distribution over long distances. The unsurpassed stability and accuracy afforded by these methods opens up the perspective of future fiber-optic infrastructure providing high-capacity telecommunication along with atomic clock signals of extremely high quality. A promising approach into this direction is the White Rabbit (WR) protocol developed at CERN, which combines Gigabit Ethernet with time transfer with 1 nanosecond uncertainty over distances up to 10 km. In this talk I will describe a WR link between the cities of Amsterdam and Delft in the Netherlands, aimed at sub-nanosecond time transfer over 2×137 km of installed optical fiber. The link employs bidirectional semiconductor optical amplifiers, and the outcome of a performance comparison with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers is reported. Finally, I will discuss the possibility of implementing WR for (e)VLBI observations in existing dense-wavelength-division-multiplexed networks.
Wallin, Anders Title: Time Transfer in a Wide Area White Rabbit Network
Abstract:
Time transfer using the White Rabbit Precision Time Protocol (WR-PTP) is demonstrated over a 1000 km optical fiber link using a dedicated channel in the Finnish University Network (FUNET). The maximum instability of time transfer, determined by independent GPS-PPP measurements, was +/-2 ns over a 100 day period. We discuss the performance and limitations of WR-PTP time&frequency transfer in a public NREN.
The performance of a 5 km actively compensated frequency distribution link using semiconductor and erbium-doped fibre amplifiers is also described, which enables state-of-the-art frequency comparisons for tests of fundamental physics in widely separated experiments. This technique can be employed on the 2x317 km optical fibre link between VU Amsterdam and University of Groningen.

7-5-2015: article in Xcell Journal

added by Erik van der Bij on 2015-05-07 13:43:22.311345

The Xcell Journal from Xilinx features a nice article giving an 8-page introduction to the technology.
White Rabbit: When Every Second Counts, Xcell Journal, Issue 91, Q2 2015.
The article is written by Seven Solutions.

7-11-2014: VLBI workshop presents 4 x WR

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-11-07 17:08:40.612328

The Third International VLBI Technology Workshop will feature four presentations (out of 55) and one poster that feature White Rabbit.

These workshops, which evolved from the highly successful 10-year series of International e-VLBI workshops, aim to encompass all areas of hardware or software development relevant to VLBI.

RadioNet3 ERATec Engineering Special Session
hosted by the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
10 - 13 November 2014, Groningen/Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
http://www.jive.nl/ivtw2014/abstracts.php

Presentations

Author Title and Abstract
Boven, Paul Title: Using VLBI to demonstrate long-haul fiber-optic frequency transfer
Abstract:
Time transfer over fiber optic links opens two exciting possibilities for VLBI. Firstly, it enables the dissemination of an even higher quality clock to observatories, compared to the performance of the H-masers commonly in use. This can improve the sensitivity in e.g. space-based VLBI and astrometry. It will also do away with the need to perform clock-searches. Secondly, it allows to deliver a frequency reference with suitable stability for VLBI, to telescopes that do not have (the budget for) an H-maser. This would make it possible to expand the VLBI arrays with e.g. telecon dishes converted for radio astronomy. An interesting use case of this is the nascent African VLBI Network.
In the Asterics proposal that we recently submitted, we hope to demonstrate the feasibility of using White Rabbit to transfer the WSRT H-maser signal via fiber optics to the Dwingeloo Radio telescope, and measure fringes between these two telescopes.
Jansweijer, Peter Title: Implementing White Rabbit in your design
Abstract: Distribution of time throughout large infrastructures has been an issue for many decades. In recent years work has been done by the White Rabbit developers community to provide a fully deterministic Ethernet-based network for general purpose data transfer and synchronization at sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds precision for large distributed systems. White Rabbit enhances the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and is currently the most accurate PTP implementation.
White Rabbit has got the attention of many people, and today the number of users and applications in different fields, worldwide, is increasing.
Following a brief overview of White Rabbit, this talk will explain how to make your own hardware White Rabbit capable. It will mainly focus on the technical aspects of such an implementation.
Koelemeij, Jeroen Title: Methods for data, time and ultrastable frequency transfer through long-haul fiber-optic links
Abstract:
Tightly synchronized time and frequency references are essential for astronomical observations via distributed antenna arrays, such as VLBI. Typical synchronization solutions make use of GPS radio signals and/or stand-alone atomic clocks like hydrogen masers. Recently, several research groups have developed and demonstrated fiber-optic methods for time and frequency distribution over long distances. The unsurpassed stability and accuracy afforded by these methods opens up the perspective of future fiber-optic infrastructure providing high-capacity telecommunication along with atomic clock signals of extremely high quality. A promising approach into this direction is the White Rabbit (WR) protocol developed at CERN, which combines Gigabit Ethernet with time transfer with 1 nanosecond uncertainty over distances up to 10 km. In this talk I will describe a WR link between the cities of Amsterdam and Delft in the Netherlands, aimed at sub-nanosecond time transfer over 2×137 km of installed optical fiber. The link employs bidirectional semiconductor optical amplifiers, and the outcome of a performance comparison with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers is reported. Finally, I will discuss the possibility of implementing WR for (e)VLBI observations in existing dense-wavelength-division-multiplexed networks.
Wallin, Anders Title: Time Transfer in a Wide Area White Rabbit Network
Abstract:
Time transfer using the White Rabbit Precision Time Protocol (WR-PTP) is demonstrated over a 1000 km optical fiber link using a dedicated channel in the Finnish University Network (FUNET). The maximum instability of time transfer, determined by independent GPS-PPP measurements, was +/-2 ns over a 100 day period. We discuss the performance and limitations of WR-PTP time&frequency transfer in a public NREN.
The performance of a 5 km actively compensated frequency distribution link using semiconductor and erbium-doped fibre amplifiers is also described, which enables state-of-the-art frequency comparisons for tests of fundamental physics in widely separated experiments. This technique can be employed on the 2x317 km optical fibre link between VU Amsterdam and University of Groningen.

Poster

Author Title and Abstract
Pinkert, Tjeerd We report on a new fibre-optic link for time distribution with (sub-)nanosecond uncertainty and dissemination of the SI second, which has been realized between VSL Delft and Nikhef Amsterdam. We make use of quasi-bidirectional semiconductor optical amplifiers, instead of commonly-used erbium doped fiber amplifiers, to enable bidirectional optical transmission out of the C-band. Such links, based on commercially available White Rabbit Ethernet technology developed at CERN, can be used to augment or surpass time distribution by Global Navigation Satellite Systems, aiming at applications in telecommunication, the electricity grid, finance, and ‘SuperGPS’ positioning.

7-11-2014: ITSF 2014 “Time for the Future”

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-11-07 16:45:55.580323

The future of synchronization - white elephant or white rabbit is the title of a presentation at the International Telecom Sync Forum - ITSF 2014.

This paper considers new requirements and new High Accuracy technology available for Telecoms synchronization. Also a look at distributed applications ready to utilize high accuracy sync. And considers why a technology of the past is still the bases of time standardization efforts for the future? What sort of transition and inter-operation scenarios are possible? Is the white rabbit too early or too late?

13-10-2014: Workshop presentations available

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-10-13 09:58:27.833847

The Eighth White Rabbit Workshop was held at CERN on 6 and 7 October 2014. It discussed applications and developments of the White Rabbit project.
All the presentations are available at the Workshop page.

15-09-2014: WR part of NI's long-term strategy

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-09-15 10:40:19.717249

Jim Truchard, president, CEO and cofounder of National Instruments said in his keynote speech at NI week:

Technology from advanced-physics research institute CERN will form part of National Instruments’ long-term strategy to improve the ability of distributed systems to support real-time control. ... White Rabbit offers a tremendous opportunity to get into the nanosecond range and we are working intensely to bring this capability to distributed systems.

Mike Santori, vice president of product marketing at NI said:
Timing and synchronization are foundation technologies for control and test.

More info in the blog post Particle-collider technology to help NI build time-aware systems.

04-09-2014: Job offer at GSI

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-09-04 14:19:45.166230

GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH

GSI is a heavy ion research center. The laboratory performs basic and applied research in physics and related natural science disciplines using a large, in many aspects worldwide unique particle accelerator facility. GSI is now inviting qualified candidates (m/f) to apply for the following post:

Electronics Developer, MSc or Diploma in electronics, physics or equivalent

Reference no. 6210-14.43

with a focus at development of digital electronic modules. The Control Systems (CSCO) department oversees the control system of the accelerator complex of FAIR and GSI in all aspects – design, implementation and operation – in cooperation with national and international partners. The main task for the position is to contribute to a high-precision time synchronization and event distribution system based on White Rabbit PTP, in particular the development and maintenance of FPGA based hardware in different form factors.

Tasks include:

  • Specification, design and development of electronic modules to be used as endpoints for the timing system
  • Maintenance and further development of existing designs
  • Supporting mass production and commissioning of electronic modules
  • Debugging and repairing of such modules
  • Licensing of such modules as open hardware designs and publishing of relevant information to the open hardware repository (www.ohwr.org)
  • All of the above tasks require close cooperation with other colleagues

Your competences:

  • Very good skills in development, production and debugging of digital electronics based on FPGAs, including schematics and PCB layout
  • Good knowledge of VHDL and C
  • Good knowledge of Linux operating systems
  • Good knowledge of English or German language.

The tasks require strong ability with conceptual work. The close cooperation with other professional groups requires good teamwork and structured and precise work.

For further information, please contact Dietrich Beck (D.Beck@gsi.de).
The position is initially limited to 5 years. Salary is equivalent to that for public employees as specified in the collective agreement for public employees (TVöD).

Qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply.
Handicapped persons will be preferentially considered when equally qualified.

Closing date is 12.09.2014.

Applications in English or German attaching curriculum vitae and covering letter including the desired salary quoting reference no. 6210-14.43 should be sent to:
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH
ABTEILUNG PERSONAL
PLANCKSTRASSE 1
64291 DARMSTADT or online to bewerbung@gsi.de.
Darmstadt, 15.08.2014

See also the following sites in German:

28-08-2014: VSL sends out Press Release

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-09-01 11:58:30.242965

Researchers of the National Measurement Institute VSL in Delft and the VU University Amsterdam managed to synchronise a clock of the Nikhef, the National Institute for Subatomic Physics, in Amsterdam with the atomic clock of VSL in Delft. The synchronisation took place via a 135 km long optical fibre link using the so-called White Rabbit protocol. This protocol allows clocks to be synchronised with the caesium clocks at VSL. The precise synchronisation between Delft and Amsterdam is a first step. In the future, this technique should be available throughout the Netherlands.

Full Press Release.

13-08-2014: WR Calibration Procedure v1.0 is out

added by Grzegorz Daniluk on 2014-08-13 16:51:47.549419

After publishing two drafts for comments, we're now happy to announce that v1.0 of the "White Rabbit calibration procedure" document is available on OHWR. You can download it from the Documents section of the main White Rabbit project page.

The document provides step-by-step instructions to be performed to ensure your WR network is properly calibrated and synchronized with sub-ns accuracy. It also contains additional hints on how to measure the fiber link which is already deployed and how to recover a WR Calibrator parameters if your primary device got broken. Two appendices provide the mathematical proofs for the calibration correctness and the estimation of measurement errors.

04-03-2014: Greetings from Siberia!

added by Erik van der Bij on 2014-03-04 16:18:24.159869

We received the following message from DESY who has a test setup for the HiSCORE-Tunka experiment:

??
Btw, Greetings from Siberia:
our 9 WR-field stations doing an excellent job!
First physics calibrations, sending a light beam over hundreds of meters to our station grid (0.3x0.3km2 grid).
WR clocks look excellent.
??
More info about their setup can be found under DESY at the White Rabbit committed users page.

17-12-2013: WR link between CERN sites for test purposes

added by Grzegorz Daniluk on 2013-12-17 22:30:29.006530

We have recently managed to get a fiber link deployed between the two CERN sites: Prevessin (France) and Meyrin (Switzerland). It goes from our lab to the CERN Control Center, then under the border to building near the CERN Globe of Science and Innovation and back the same way to our lab. It is a real fiber installation of about 9 km length in total. We will use it for long term tests of White Rabbit. Since it's no longer a roll of fiber in the lab, we can check for example the stability of tracking the link changes due to temperature variations over days, weeks and even months.

06-11-2013: WR goes to see the galaxy

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-11-06 15:02:43.244222

Martin Bruckner and Ralf Wischnewski from DESY has presented at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013) several articles describing a White Rabbit setup used for the HiSCORE-Tunka detector. This HiSCORE detector, a new non-imaging wide-angle Air-Cherenkov ground based array, is currently in its engineering phase. Time synchronization to nsec-level between detector stations, distributed over 10-100km2, is essential to reach best angular resolution for high energy gamma rays.

Some quotes from the three articles:

  • A White Rabbit setup for sub-nsec synchronization, timestamping and time calibration in large scale astroparticle physics experiments (July 2013)
    • The big, active and very communicative WRcommunity has made the White Rabbit system a well debugged and calibrated system. In particular, for high demands on longterm precision and stability, the extensive usage and debugging of the WR-key components make it very reliable.
    • We conclude, that this White Rabbit system is ready to be applied under field conditions in large-scale astroparticle physics experiments - for time synchronization with nanosecond precision between individual detectors, distributed over km-scale.
    • We acknowledge very helpful discussions, technical advices and support from the White Rabbit community (in particular the CERN based team and A. Rubini) during all phases of this project. The technical support from both SevenSolutions and Creotech [companies- ED] was very helpful.
  • Results from the WhiteRabbit sub-nsec time synchronization setup at HiSCORE-Tunka (July 2013)
    • We mention that the White architecture guarantees that the clocks in each WR-node is synchronized with full precision at any time. This is an essential difference compared to most proprietary time-synchronization solutions in experiments, based on corrections applied offline (or with significant delay).
    • We note the excellent system reliability: not a single component of four complete stations showed a failure over 6 months of Siberian winter performance (at operation/storage temperatures of 0...+30C / -45...+10C, respectively).
  • Status of the HiSCORE experiment (July 2013)
    • ...we trigger and read out ... with waveform sampling at 1 GHz, and time-synchronization at sub-ns level with a White-Rabbit (WR) based system (time stamping and triggering). Waveform sampling and time-stamping proved to be very stable. The ns-trigger timestamps, obtained from the timing system allow clear Cerenkov air-shower detection.

23-10-2013: First WR project newsletter published

added by Javier Serrano on 2013-10-23 11:50:08.672004

The first WR project newsletter has been published. The newsletter is made of voluntary contributions from people who are developing or using WR technology. The style is informal and aims at giving a quick snapshot of where the project is and where it's heading.

16-08-2013: 1000 km link transfers UTC(MIKES)

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-08-16 11:47:09.629021

The 1000 km White Rabbit link under test by MIKES and CSC (that operates FUNET) in Finland is actually quite a system as Mr. Merimaa from MIKES explains:

The WR-master is actually referenced to UTC (MIKE), so that we have (some kind of) representation of UTC (MIKE) in Kajaani even now! And not just a second, but the time of day as well.

The WR-slave at Kajaani is now being operated with remote desktop using the data transfer capability of the WR-link. The same link will be used to access the Cs-clock, time-interval counter, and the GTR51 receiver. We are now setting up the remote access to instruments before we transfer them to Kajaani, but in principle this should work.

Another thing maybe worth noting, is that the link actually goes through a WR-switch at CSC Espoo site (0.5 km from us). I we are successful, this switch will be a hub for other time links within the FUNET network.

We have also measured the performance of a loopback link consisting of
MW-master (MIKES) - 0.5 km - WR-switch (CSC) - 0.5 km - WR-slave (MIKES)@
and did not find any drifts - impressive!

15-08-2013: A 1000 km link up and running

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-08-15 17:23:19.078151

The Finnish Metrology Institute MIKES has set up a White Rabbit link between two PCs that are connected with a 1000 (one thousand!) kilometer link. This work is a collaboration between MIKES and CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd that operates FUNET (the Finnish University Network.

The White Rabbit console reports a mean round-trip-time (RTT) delay of 10.4 ms with a daily variations of ca +/- 40 ns.
10.4 ms corresponds to a ca 2000 km round trip, assuming a refractive index of 1.5.
The WR protocol is compensating for the daily variations, but this could not yet be verified as both points are physically spaced at a 567 km driving distance.

This is a first step to evaluate WR for comparison and synchronization of geographically distant atomic clocks in the White Rabbit time-transfer experiment between Espoo and Kajaani in Finland (pdf).
The next step is to verify the accuracy of the transferred white-rabbit timebase by moving a Cs-clock and a GPS receiver to Kajaani in the near future.

"Wow, this is AWESOME", was the comment of Tom Wlostowski, designer of the first WR hardware, while Maciej Lipinski, co-chair of High Accuracy sub-committee of the extension/revision of the IEEE1588-2008 standard wrote: "This is getting really CRAZY".

This experiment shows that the White Rabbit hardware and protocols are much more flexible than the original design goal for use at maximum distance of ten kilometer. Also the fact that the designs are "Open", made that MIKES could easily replace the original SFP lasers by longer reaching types.

14-08-2013: WR running on official Dutch national timescale

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-08-14 09:44:42.963577

The Dutch Metrology Institute VSL has set up their first White Rabbit link running between two PCs.
The GrandMaster PC is now synchronized to the Dutch national timescale and the Slave PC is synchronized to the GrandMaster over a 5 km fiber spool. On the slave, one connector is defined as output 1PPS. This signal is compared back to the timescale with a time interval counter. The experiment is now set up that the counter will automatically measure the difference every 30 minutes. VSL will let this run for some time to observe the stability of this link.

"First results already show a Time Deviation TDEV that is going below 10 ps! That's impressive!", Erik Dierikx from VSL commented.

This is the first step of a program to build a 120 km long White Rabbit link from VSL Delft to Amsterdam, a collaboration between the VU University, SURFnet, VSL Delft, TU Eindhoven and NIKHEF. The project aims to provide optical traceability to SI units of time, frequency and length to academic community

11-07-2013: WR based TDC system demonstrated in China

added by Javier Serrano on 2013-07-11 09:57:15.177907

Our friends in Tsinghua University demonstrated a distributed time-stamping system with sub-ns accuracy. You can see a video at http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTc2MDc5ODA4.html

7-5-2013: Job offer for developer

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-05-07 13:29:37.129543

Embedded Systems Developer, MSc or Diploma in electronics, computer-science or equivalent
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany.

The main task for the position is the development of a high-precision time synchronization and event distribution system based on White Rabbit PTP, in particular the development of VHDL or embedded software that is required to bridge the gap from FPGAs to higher levels of the control system stack.

21-02-2013: GSI receives V3.3 switches

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-02-21 12:05:21.019831

GSI in Germany has received their first production quality V3.3 switches. They were connected to V3.2 switches (upstream) and to another node (downstream) and it worked in a plug and play fashion. GSI was also happy to see that their input for improvements to the switch were all taken into account.

24-01-2013: switch passes CE label tests

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-01-24 11:58:18.825260

The White Rabbit switch v3.3. passed successfully all the electrical tests related with power, electrical safety, labels, etc… related to the CE label for industrial facilities. Last year it had already passed all the EMI tests (emission, etc).

10-01-2013: LHAASO extends WR usage to 7344 nodes

added by Erik van der Bij on 2013-01-10 16:18:19.582207

LHAASO, the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observation project will be deploying 10,000 detectors over 1 square km in China. LHAASO has confirmed using WRhite Rabbit for all detectors, including WCDA. The total number of nodes increased to 7344 via 583 WR switches. Four subsystems should be separated via VLAN, and the redundancy configurations similar to CERN should be applied.

In February A Packet-based Precise Timing and Synchronous DAQ Network for LHAASO Project will be presented at the 13th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation - VCI2013

Workshop 27-28 November Madrid

added by Erik van der Bij on 2012-10-29 13:44:51.907546

The 7th White Rabbit workshop will be held in Madrid on 27 and 28 November 2012. Anyone interested can register, there are no costs involved.

WR @ ISPCS2012

added by Maciej Lipinski on 2012-10-10 09:37:36.841087

ISPCS2012 conference is the PTP conference. Since WR extends PTP, it is very important for the project.

At the conference, WR was very visible thanks to as many as 3 WR-related papers which were presented and our participation in the PlugFest.

This year, the ISPCS conference was an opportunity for the PTP people to decide on the shape of the upcoming PTP standard revision. Wouldn't it be nice to include WR into PTPv3? It seems that it's not such a crazy idea.

A presentation-report from the ISPCS2012 conference which summarizes what happened at the conference and what are the outcomes concerning WR can be found here

3-10-2012: White Rabbit studies for Spanish accelerator

added by Erik van der Bij on 2012-10-03 14:51:07.944144

After an extensive study, White Rabbit has been chosen as the most promising option for the synchronization network at ESS Bilbao, a light ion linear accelerator. Therefore, first SPEC to SPEC tests have been performed.
Now, with a White Rabbit switch a new set up will be tested to provide synchronization signals for ESS Bilbao's hydrogen positive ion source (ISHP) in the near future. For 2013 ESS Bilbao is planning to test PXI SPECs (SPEXI) which is the most suitable platform for the integration of White Rabbit into ESS Bilbao's general control system.

2-10-12: White Rabbit in Tibet?

added by Erik van der Bij on 2012-10-02 10:00:27.054765

LHAASO, the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observation project will be deploying 10,000 detectors over 1 square km in Tibet.
The LHAASO project has passed the technical review on the WR timing distribution plan that consists of 4 layers of WR switches (461 in total) covering the 6880 nodes of the Square Kilometer Array (KM2A). It would be able to provide both a timing link and synchronous data acquisition network to every detector front-end for a trigger-less scheme.
For 2013 it is planned to deploy a small portion of array (40-50 nodes) in Tibet using cute-wr, an FMC mezzanine card that carries a White Rabbit receiver.

White Rabbit presented in CERN's fieldbus WG

added by Javier Serrano on 2012-01-26 15:16:04.636428

WR was successfully presented in CERN's fieldbus working group. You can find the slides and some pictures, including the latest and greatest 18-port switch box at https://www.ohwr.org/project/white-rabbit/wikis/Documents/White-Rabbit-as-a-fieldbus-(presentation)

Basic Ethernet switching demonstrated

added by Javier Serrano on 2010-12-14 15:04:17.800478

The WR v2 switch demonstrated real-life Ethernet packet switching in the last WR developer meeting by transferring a big video file between two laptops.

WR switch PTP compliance tested in ISPCS 2010 plugfest

added by Javier Serrano on 2010-10-08 09:00:03.354886

Tomasz went to ISPCS 2010 and tried the prototype WR switch with other PTP-compliant devices during the plugfest. The switch successfully talked PTP with hardware from Hirschmann, Beckhoff, Oregano, Ruggedcom, Semtech and ZHAW.

First two-month development cycle for WR switch started

added by Javier Serrano on 2010-09-21 13:56:55.163811

The WR switch design effort is transitioning into a new development model, with two-month cycles that include a kick-off meeting for planning the two months of work and a meeting at the end to check results. The project is now split into HW (lead by Tomasz Wlostowski) and SW (lead by Alessandro Rubini) development. A separate sub-project has been created for the SW part. The goals for this first two-month effort can be seen in the wiki pages of both projects.

Report on measuring propagation delay in FPGAs published

added by Javier Serrano on 2010-06-28 16:59:57.378662

See the report at http://www.nikhef.nl/pub/services/biblio/technicalreports/ETR2010-01.pdf

Planning for basic switch design published

added by Javier Serrano on 2010-05-03 14:11:53.372402

See SwitchPlanning2010.

20-4-2010 - 9 rolls of fibre received at CERN

added by Erik van der Bij on 2010-04-20 14:00:04.092605

We have received five rolls of 10 km and four rolls of 5 km single mode fibre with LC connectors on them. These can be used for the testing of long White Rabbit links.

MCH v2 working

added by Javier Serrano on 2010-03-11 18:21:23.577592

Version 2 of the White Rabbit switch uplink port card is back from production. Tomek has successfully tested two units and he will now proceed to organize the production of ~10 more.

Review MCH clocking mezzaline finished

added by Anonymous on 2009-06-08 11:49:42.934294

Review for the MCH clocking mezzanine finished. PCB production process initiated.

Rev. 2 of MCH (minor bug fixing) initiated.

added by Anonymous on 2009-10-01 11:48:18.821823

Rev. 2 of MCH (minor bug fixing) initiated.

Timing Workshop 1

added by Anonymous on 2008-02-15 11:47:39.482885

Timing Workshop 1

Timing Workshop 2

added by Anonymous on 2008-10-27 11:46:56.484107

Timing Workshop 2

3rd White Rabbit Workshop

added by Anonymous on 2009-07-20 15:17:39.499697

3rd White Rabbit Workshop

WR presented in ICALEPCS 2009

added by Anonymous on 2009-10-13 15:10:16.948495

WR presented in ICALEPCS 2009

WR presented in ISPCS 2009

added by Anonymous on 2009-10-15 12:00:00

WR presented in ISPCS 2009