5G time service

White paper

Troels Kolding, Pilar Andres, Kari Niemela, Thomas Jacobsen, Rakash SivaSiva Ganesan,
Renato Abreu, Balazs Bertenyi and Devaki Chandramouli
Contents
Executive summary 3
Introduction 3
5G time service use cases 4
Smart grid 4
Banking and points of sale 5
Media production and events 6
Sensors and testing 6
Consumer 7
Health and medicine 7
Achieving timing services over 5G 8
Over-the-air time synchronization to UTC 8
Time synchronization for 5G industrial IoT 9
5G time synchronization for individual devices 10
Comparison to GNSS/GPS 12
Summary and conclusions 12
Abbreviations 13
References 14

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Executive summary
For nearly 100 years, “time-of-day” telephony or dedicated radio station services have helped humans set
their clocks. Soon, applications and devices will use 5G networks to automatically set and keep their time
to microsecond accuracy enabling new private, public and industrial use cases and experiences.
In this white paper, we explore some of the many possible use cases that can benefit from 5G time
synchronization services either if the consumers of time require precise time or the devices are located
outdoors or deep indoors. We explain how time-of-day services provided by 5G will facilitate a simple way
for users and different types of devices to obtain accurate time.

Introduction
Since its introduction in 1933, humans have been able to adjust their clocks using telephone time-of-
day or “talking clock” services, where a live or recorded human voice gives the correct local time. Today,
time-of-day services are often accessed by computers over the internet to Internet Time Servers running
Network Time Protocol (NTP). For cases where the internet is not available, GPS receivers have often
been used, but their operation is challenging indoors. Other methods to obtain time-of-day services are
considered in Figure 1.
In Release-16 of the 5G standard, 3GPP introduces time synchronization support for 5G over the air, which
provides very high accuracy in the microsecond range and with deep indoor penetration. The initial focus
for the 5G design has been to meet the strict demands of Industrial IoT (IIoT) and time-sensitive Ethernet
networks, but with the next envisioned steps, 5G time-of-day services with microsecond accuracy can
empower low-cost and low-power timing devices and clocks. In this white paper, we explain the envisioned
functionalities and use cases behind the modern 5G version of “talking clock”.

Figure 1. Illustration of the evolution of different methods available to acquire time-of-day synchronization
and typical end-user accuracies achieved (inspired by [1])

Time of Day Telephone time of day

Radio station GPS time Internet time 5G time
service including automated
time service transfer service service
computer time

Access method VoIP, cell Internet access, ex.

by user Landline Wireless receiver Wireless receiver Wireless receiver
phone PC or time device

Typical
synchronization <30 ms <150 ms <50 ms <100 ns <100 ms < 1µs
accuracy

Years of public
operation 1933 - today 1945 - today 1973 - today 1990 - today 2021 onwards

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5G time service use cases
In an earlier white paper, time synchronization in combination with advanced Ethernet applications such as
IEEE Time Sensitive Networking was described in detail [2]. In this section we focus on different use cases
suitable for time synchronization over wide area 5G networks. The example use cases considered in this
section have been compared in the radar chart in Figure 2, which shows required synchronization accuracy
for each use case. In the following sub-sections, these use cases are discussed in more detail.

Figure 2. Illustration of various use cases that can be served by 5G time services in terms of
synchronization requirements

Media production
Banking & POS

Human trading (<1ms)

Real-time payments (<5s) Sensors & testing

Non-high-frequency
trading Mobility
Smart grid High-frequency event
Event reporting trading testing
and disturbance
Live audio Health
streaming

Audio/video
Mobile NW
Power system production
SLA testing
protection
Control room (<1s)
Robotic-aided surgery
5G clock as
Clocks/watches
Consumer
Grandmaster on site
Suprvisory control and
AR/VR experience
data acquisition system Synchro-phasors 5G time
service
Synchronization requirement <1µs <100µs <1ms <100ms

Smart grid
The smart grid industry relies on timestamping of events for efficient management and operations as well
as adjusting power sub-systems. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is commonly used for time
synchronization, for example, in power sub-stations, which often requires the installation of an external
antenna for good satellite coverage indoors. In many countries, however, there is already good coverage of
cellular networks inside power systems and time synchronization via 5G will offer a convenient alternative
or backup to GNSS for better reliability. An example use case is shown in Figure 3 where 5G directly
provides time to an indoor located timing device. Depending on the use case, synchronization accuracies
in the range of 1 microsecond to a millisecond can be served by 5G, including adaptation to the Precision
Time Protocol (PTP) profiles used in the smart grid industry.

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Figure 3. Illustration of the use of 5G time synchronization in power sub-stations

Power sub-stations

Local
synchronized PTP
Ethernet

5G powered
sync Grandmaster

Banking and points of sale

Business activities and financial transactions, such as purchases between a buyer and a seller, rely on timing.
Timing is necessary to record activities, execute rules and identify conflict, economic crime, etc. For instance,
the points of sale (POS) for a retail or service business can be widely distributed. There may be thousands
of independent machines running concurrently that need to be synchronized to a common time source
on a real-time basis to ensure the data of all transactions are synchronized together (e.g., between online
shopping and physical stores). Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the reference for all POS and is used
to timestamp any events that take place.
Timestamping accuracy requirements for POS is easily met with 5G. Furthermore, time synchronization is also
a key aspect in proof-of-stake blockchain-based approaches that seek to significantly improve the energy
and transaction efficiency compared to approaches such as Bitcoin. Here, accurate time synchronization
based on GNSS or NTP is associated with some risks such as poor indoor coverage, poor configuration and
spoofed sources. These risks can be mitigated using 5G-based methods in parallel or as alternative.
For financial services and high-frequency trading (HFT) where prices change rapidly, the time window for
trades is microseconds. Figure 4 shows an illustration of time synchronization in a banking use case with
5G providing a traceable UTC time to the financial hubs. Depending on the trading activity, financial
regulations have imposed different requirements in terms of maximum divergence from UTC (ranging from
100 microseconds to 1 second) or granularity of the timestamp (ranging from 1 microsecond to 1 second) [3].
5G can immediately meet regulation requirements for distributed financial systems as an alternative
source to provide traceable UTC.

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Figure 4. Illustration of time synchronization in trading and 5G providing traceable UTC

UTC
sources

GNSS Terrestrial 5G Time over wired Clocks

Market

Stock Stock
exchange exchange

Participants Participants

Financial hub A Financial hub B

Media production and events

When audio and video are multiplexed for live events, time synchronization is essential to perfectly align
different media sources. Media production or streaming devices (microphones, earbuds, instruments,
video recorders including drones) rely more and more on wireless communications to generate new
experiences and make production more efficient. 5G plays a key role enabling these new use cases [4].
Mixed reality live shows based on 5G are already happening, for example, fashion runway shows, art shows
and concerts. In such shows, fast connectivity and low latency are essential. As well, different components,
such as headsets, event screens, or live effects, must be accurately synchronized.
Accurate time synchronization via 5G opens new flexibility and reduces the need for local dedicated
distribution networks and timeservers to achieve media synchronization. One example is multi-cam editing
where external timecoding from a master timecode generator is used to ensure alignment of recordings
and an improved workflow. 5G provides excellent indoor timecoding support, and devices can be built
using standard output and signaling formats for use in professional or prosumer camcorders (e.g., BNC
interface and SMPTE 2xx).

Sensors and testing

Timestamping capabilities in general are essential when troubleshooting complex events where exact
timing and order of events is a key aspect. For instance, timing support in distributed sensors and test
devices is illustrated in Figure 5. This is especially useful when cloud-based AI/ML frameworks are used to
find correlations among a large variety of events observed in different places. Accurate timestamping can
be used to automate storage into databases across a large set of inputs for generating sensor fusion as
well as advanced correlations, which can lead to new insights in a large range of fields, including medicine,
law enforcement, agriculture and autonomous driving.

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Figure 5. How events with accurate and common timestamps help AI/ML based learning

Another use case includes drive testing in cellular networks where customized 5G devices are used to
test the performance of deployments, including handover failures, data rates and coverage. Despite
having GPS receivers and access to the internet, today’s commercial test devices can timestamp events
with an accuracy in the order of 100 ms only. This means that events cannot be accurately correlated
with other events within the operator’s network, or across devices when multiple devices are used for
testing in parallel. Having access to microsecond level timing within the 5G device enables very accurate
timestamping of radio events, thus enabling much deeper testing of network performance as well as
advanced device capabilities (e.g., hybrid access devices). Accurate timestamping of both the device and
the network also allows for one-way delay analysis compared to today’s round-trip-time-based (RTT)
methods. For instance, it can be used to test the network’s capability to satisfy latency-based service level
agreements (SLAs) in each direction and to make advanced troubleshooting of deployment issues.

Consumer
For consumer devices not connected to the Internet, GNSS or radio-station time service is sometimes an
in-built option that is used to provide the time. This can include watches, metering and augmented and
virtual reality devices (AR/VR). In the latter case, time synchronization becomes an essential service for
multi-party AR/VR experiences. For many of these cases, a low-cost 5G based solution can offer benefits
for the device and improve the quality of experience (QoE).

Health and medicine

In the health segment, timestamping can be useful for coordinated medicinal treatments. Synchronization
is a prerequisite for advanced use cases such as remote robotic surgery.

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Achieving timing services over 5G
For cellular connectivity, the user equipment (UE) needs to know on which frequency and at what time it
can exchange traffic with the base station, thus the UE and base station are synchronized to each other
(although the UE does not know the absolute time of the synchronization). With Releases 16 and 17 of 5G,
which create support for IIoT and time sensitive communications (TSC) beyond the scope of IIoT, the need
for accurate 5G absolute time synchronization (i.e., synchronization to a physical time like UTC) has become
much more critical. In the following sub-sections, we discuss the different methods to enable this accurate
time synchronization in more detail.

Over-the-air time synchronization to UTC

The process of synchronizing a 5G device to the absolute 5G network time, typically UTC, is done by direct
messaging over the air interface. 5G uses a simple but accurate method to communicate time of day to
the device. The device (UE) identifies so-called system frames by monitoring the air interface, each with a
system frame number (SFN). Contained within the 5G system information block 9 (SIB9) is the information
related to GPS time and UTC. SIB9 messages are broadcast to inform devices of the exact time at the
boundary between two SFNs. Hence, when the device has locked its internal clock to the system frame
pacing, it can use this message to set its absolute time.
SIB9 contains the time information as well as flags to assist the device to understand the local time
as shown in Figure 6. Reading the SIB9 and acquiring the time-of-day alignment can be performed by
any device even if not subscribed to the 5G service. It only requires a 5G-capable receiver in the device
as SIB9 can be broadcast in the cell. For fully subscribed devices, the network may also provide the
timing information to each device by means of dedicated signaling (using Radio Resource Control (RRC)
messages). More details are available in [5].

Figure 6. Communication of time-of-day over air interface in SIB9 message

10 ms

0797 System Frame Number 0798 System Frame Number 0799 System Frame

SIB9
timeInfoUTC,
dayLightSavingTime,
leapSeconds,
localTimeOffset,
ReferenceTimeInfo

The distance the radio messages travels between the base station and the device causes a time difference
between the time when the system frame was sent by the base station and the time when it was received
at the device. This time difference is referred to as the radio signal propagation delay. As the propagation
delay between the device and the base station delivering the timing information increases, the achieved
synchronization accuracy degrades, unless the delivered time information is compensated. Even without
compensation, however, good synchronization accuracy can be achieved for very large cells in the kilometer
range as shown in Figure 7.
For a connected device, which requires subscription to the 5G operator, the propagation delay can be
estimated based on the timing advance procedure, and compensation can be applied to mitigate the
error caused by distance. While any connected UE can do compensation on their own, standardized and

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controlled compensation methods are introduced in 5G Release-17. The performance difference with
and without compensation is shown in Figure 7. For small distances less than 100 meters, compensation
should typically be avoided, as propagation delay estimation has a certain error bound.

Figure 7. Achievable synchronization accuracy versus distance to base station providing synchronization

5
Synchrization accuracy to UTC [µs]

0
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600

Distance synchronizing base station [m]

Without distance With distance

compensation compensation

Time synchronization for 5G industrial IoT

In 5G Release-16, full downstream and tight synchronization support was introduced for 5G to serve
advanced and time-critical Ethernet services, including IEEE Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) [6]. When
used in IIoT, the 5G system can act as an IEEE Std 802.1AS [7] compliant Ethernet bridge, as illustrated in
Figure 8. Each device represents one port of such a bridge, and there is one or more ports also in the 5G
core network side. The input/output points of the 5G network are the device-side TSN translator (DS-TT)
inside the device and the network-side TSN translator (NW-TT) on the 5G network side. The translator
functionality implements IEEE Std 802.1AS including compensation for delay and jitter that takes place as
individual time synchronization messages traverse the 5G network as user plane traffic. In this way a device
can be synchronized to a vertical grand master clock (GM) connected to the 5G network end-point with an
accuracy better than 900 ns (without considering additional propagation delay error).
In 5G Release-17, uplink time synchronization support is added so that the GM clock can be located on the
device side of the network to synchronize devices that are attached to other 5G devices or sitting behind
the 5G network. Additionally, support for best-master clock algorithms (BMCA) is added to support high
clock resiliency use cases. Besides IEEE Std 802.1AS support (gPTP), also IEEE Std 1588 PTP [8] support is
added in Release-17 to facilitate a broader range of use cases and IP applications.

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Figure 8. Illustration of synchronization mechanisms when 5G acts as an Ethernet bridge envisioned for
IIoT uses. Devices act as ports of the bridge. DS-TT at the device side and NW-TT at the network side are
synchronized to the 5G time domain (e.g., UTC)

When 5G is an Ethernet bridge, with transparent When 5G is an Ethernet bridge, with self-contained
SYNC protocol support (gPTP, PTP over IP/Eth) SYNC protocol support (gPTP, PTP over IP/Eth)

GM 5G clock (UTC)

5G 5G
Ethernet Ethernet
bridge NW-TT bridge NW-TT GM
UPF UPF

UTC: SIB9/RRC (CP) UTC: SIB9/RRC (CP)

(g)PTP for Time Domain X (UP) (g)PTP for 5G Time Domain (UP)

UE UE UE UE
DS-TT DS-TT DS-TT DS-TT

5G time synchronization for individual devices

In IIoT, devices (comprised of UE and DS-TT) are considered as ports on a bridge in an Ethernet network.
Many use cases, however, require time synchronization support for a single device camping in the network
with basic access to a public 5G network and not part of an Ethernet bridge construct. In 5G Release-17
and Release-18, several such use cases are envisioned. Figure 9 shows five different methods to access
time of day from the 5G network and ways to use that information by an application attached to the
device (e.g., connected via Ethernet port, a dedicated sync hardware port or via drivers for the operating
system). The actual delivery of time information over the air interface using SIB9 and/or RRC messaging is
described in the previous section.
The many different methods offer flexible support for a wide range of use cases as well as device designs.
The device range can vary from advanced devices, such as DS-TT and advanced synchronization protocols,
to very simple devices only capable of reading the time of the 5G system broadcast channels (i.e., SIB9),
not requiring a transmitter module, a 5G subscription or even a SIM card slot. Taking the device type as a
starting point, Table 1 presents some of the options and the typical synchronization accuracy.

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Table 1. Time-of-day synchronization solutions for standalone devices

Device type 5G subs. Sync domain Method of syncing Method for syncing Accuracy level
needed device applications
Full UE/DS-TT Yes 5G (UTC) only 5G air interface Ethernet, device PTP <1µs
(Control plane (CP) GM clock
or User plane (UP))
Full UE/DS-TT Yes Any, incl. 5G 5G air interface PTP boundary or transparent <1µs
(UTC) and received PTP clock. Compensates and
message (CP/UP) forwards PTP message
UE with GPIO Yes 5G (UTC) only 5G air interface (CP) Dedicated IF e.g., GPIO/1PPS <1µs
UE with SW Yes 5G (UTC) only 5G air interface (CP/ Via operating system on <10µs
application UP) device
Low-cost, low- No 5G (UTC) only 5G air interface (CP), Dedicated IF e.g., GPIO/1PPS <10µs
power device uncompensated

Whenever the most accurate results are needed, the network needs to help measure the propagation
delay, which requires an active connection (temporary or regular), thus a subscription to the carrier. If
lower accuracy of 5-10 µs is acceptable, compensation is not strictly needed. Another factor is whether the
device takes care of its own synchronization delivery to its attached clients or if this functionality should be
configured by the network. For network configured scenarios, configuration of the (g)PTP operation at the
device side is done by exchanging a port management information container (PMIC) between the DS-TT
and the 5G system. This type of scenario can be helpful when a company manages a fleet of devices that
require automated deployment and monitoring.

Figure 9. Illustration of how standalone devices can achieve time-of-day synchronization from the 5G
network and provide accurate timing to their attached clients (RT IF indicates any real-time interface).

When single UE is downstream sync device using any SYNC protocol or delivery mechanism

NW-TT GM TD X
UPF GM UTC
UTC: SIB9/RRC (CP)

(g)PTP for Time Domain X (UP)

PMIC for (g)PTP setup (CP)

5G clock (UTC)

UE UE UE UE UE
DS-TT DS-TT DS-TT Proprietary delivery
Network Time app
(device configured)
configured

SW timing for
RT IF: PTP msg RT IF: (g)PTP msg RT IF: (g)PTP msg RT IF: Ex. low-accuracy
generated at device generated at NW-TT GPIO/PPS applications

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Comparison to GNSS/GPS
As shown in the use cases, 5G is a viable alternative or supplement to GNSS/GPS for providing time
synchronization to UTC or any well-defined time domain. The pros and cons of both solutions are illustrated
in Table 2. It is worth noting that the telecommunications sector is one of the big consumers today of GNSS-
provided timing and in that sense relies on GNSS for its operations. However, in Release-18, 5G will introduce
a timing resiliency service that will make the 5G system robust in case of GNSS failure or degradation. This
resiliency will benefit users who perform time-of-day synchronization over the 5G air interface.

Table 2. Comparison of 5G and GNSS for getting time-of-day

Comparison metric 5G GNSS
Accuracy (UTC) <900 ns with subscription, <100ns
<5-10 µs without subscription
Indoor support Yes Limited, may require external antenna and wiring
Populated area coverage Yes Yes
Remote area coverage Limited, later available via 5G Yes
non-terrestrial networks
Service subscription required Only for most accurate use cases No
Service resiliency High with 5G timing resiliency system Medium, many GNSS risk factors
Power consumption Medium-high for most accurate timing Medium
Very low for <10µs accuracy use cases

Summary and conclusions

Precise time-of-day synchronization over 5G is one of the first examples of wireless networks becoming
an essential part of critical infrastructure nationally and globally, serving societies and industries in
areas beyond mobile broadband and IoT applications. This white paper has introduced the technological
options including possibilities for low-cost device types that can be integrated into a large range of critical
applications within industrial, public and consumer segments.

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Abbreviations
1PPS One Pulse Per Second
5GS 5G System
AI Artificial Intelligence
AR Augmented Reality
BMCA Best Master Clock Algorithm
CP Control Plane
DS-TT Device-side TSN translator
GM Grand Master
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
GPIO General Purpose Input/Output
GPS Global Positioning System
gPTP Generic Precision Time Protocol
HFT High-Frequency Trading
IIoT Industrial Internet of Things
ML Machine Learning
NTP Network Time Protocol
NW-TT Network-side TSN translator
PMIC Port Management Information Container
POS Point of Sale
PTP Precision Time Protocol
QoE Quality of Experience
RRC Radio Resource Control
RTT Round-Trip-Time
SFN System Frame Number
SIB System Information Block
SLA Service Level Agreement
SMPTE Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
SW Software
TA Timing Advance
TD Time Domain
TSC Time Sensitive Communication
TSN Time Sensitive Networking
UE User Equipment
UP User Plane
UTC Coordinated Universal Time
VR Virtual Reality

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References
[1] National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), “Time Realization and Distribution,” 2021. [Online].
Available: https://www.nist.gov/time-distribution/radio-station-wwv/telephone-time-day-service.
[2] Nokia, “5G plug-and-produce,” 2021. [Online]. Available: https://onestore.nokia.com/asset/207281/.
[3] European Commission, “Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFID II) - Directive 2014/65/EU, annex to
Regulatory Technical Standard 25, level of accuracy of business clocks,” [Online]. Available:
https://ec.europa.eu/finance/securities/docs/isd/mifid/rts/160607-rts-25-annex_en.pdf.
[4] Nokia & Sennheiser, “Low Latency 5G for Professional Audio Transmission,” January 2021. [Online].
Available: https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/white-papers/low-latency-5g-professional-audio-
transmission/.
[5] 3GPP, “TS 38.331 NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification,” 2020. [Online].
Available: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp//Specs/archive/38_series/38.331/38331-g20.zip.
[6] 3GPP, “TS 23.501 System architecture for the 5G System (5GS),” March 2021. [Online].
Available: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/23_series/23.501/23501-h00.zip.
[7] IEEE Std 802.1AS-2020, “IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks—Timing and
Synchronization for Time-Sensitive Applications”.
[8] IEEE Std 1588, “IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked
Measurement and Control Systems”.

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Document code: CID210965 (February)