About White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network:
- It was commissioned at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL) in Bengaluru.
- It was developed jointly by the Department of Consumer Affairs, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (CSIR–NPL) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- The system disseminates IST, traceable to national time-keeping authority UTC (NPLI), using Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-based White Rabbit technology.
- The system is designed to deliver highly accurate, secure and resilient time synchronisation for critical sectors, including banking, financial markets, telecommunications, power systems, transportation, digital governance and other strategic infrastructure.
- This network has already successfully verified the secure transmission of IST between RRSL Bengaluru and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Chennai.
What is White Rabbit Technology?
- White Rabbit is an advanced networking protocol that allows devices connected via optical fibre to synchronise their internal clocks with an accuracy of less than one nanosecond (one-billionth of a second).
- Originally developed at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research), this technology acts as a high-precision upgrade to standard Ethernet networking.
- Its primary innovation is its ability to continuously monitor and compensate for signal delays across long distances.
- By doing so, it ensures that every node in a network remains perfectly aligned, effectively eliminating the "time drift" that occurs in conventional systems.
Why is this deployment critical for India?
- Currently, many of India’s digital systems—ranging from telecommunications to banking—rely on foreign satellite-based timing services such as the US-operated GPS.
- While these systems are functional, they are vulnerable to external risks.
- An indigenous time dissemination network will make these services more secure and resilient by reducing dependence on external sources.
