Event Recording: Enhancing Timing Resilience for Critical Industries
techUK was pleased to hold a discussion on the importance of timing resilience for critical national infrastructure and the role of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in developing and maintaining national primary standards.
To start the activities, the National Physical Laboratory's (NPL) offered a brief introduction emphasizing the critical role of timing resilience in supporting various sectors, including telecommunications, finance, and emergency services. The NPL’s role is to develop and maintain the UK's national primary standards for time and frequency.
Recently, the NPL's involvement in the National Timing Centre and its efforts to enhance timing resilience provide the basis to address the vulnerabilities associated with GNSS and the need for reliable timing systems. It follows similar initiatives from the UK Government to improve PNT resilience, including the formation of a PNT office, the inclusion of PNT risks in the National Risk Register, and the announcement of a 10-point policy framework.
Furthermore, the presentation stressed the importance of engagement and collaboration among industry stakeholders, government bodies, and standards organizations to enhance timing resilience and address the skills gap in the field.
Importance of Resilient Timing
Panellists discussed the importance of resilient national timing infrastructure for the UK, highlighting its role in various critical sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and power. They discussed how these sectors rely on precise timing for synchronization, time stamping, and operational continuity.
Financial Sector: the financial sector's reliance on accurate timing for auditing and avoiding untraceable transactions. The regulations in place, such as MiFID II, mandate precise time stamping for financial transactions.
Telecommunications and Energy: the reliance of telecommunications and energy sectors on timing for network synchronization and fault location. Redundancy and holdover mechanisms built into these systems to ensure resilience.
Data Centres: The panellists discussed the critical role of timing in data centres, particularly for synchronization and cybersecurity. They highlighted the reliance on GNSS and the need for alternative timing sources to ensure resilience.
It was pointed out the significant economic impact of losing primary PNT sources, estimating a loss of over £1 billion per day to the UK's GDP. There is a need for resilient timing solutions to mitigate such risks.
The panellists discussed the risks posed by reliance on GNSS for critical sectors, including data centres, and emphasized the need for resilient timing infrastructure. Emphasizing the importance of having diverse and resilient timing sources to mitigate these risks.
Vulnerabilities of GNSS include jamming, spoofing, and space weather. Awareness within the data centre sector and other areas of CNI about the importance of resilient timing infrastructure and the potential vulnerabilities associated with relying solely on GNSS.
Alternative Timing Technologies
Alternative timing dissemination technologies can reduce dependence on GNSS, such as fibre distribution, low-frequency signals, and 5G.
Fiber Distribution: the use of fibre distribution for time synchronization, highlighting its cost-effectiveness and reliability compared to GNSS, with applications to financial services and data centres.
Low-Frequency Signals: low-frequency signals like eLoran as an alternative timing source are less susceptible to jamming and spoofing compared to GNSS.
5G and 6G: the potential of 5G and future 6G networks to provide timing services through synchronization markers in 5G signals that can be used for timing purposes.
LEO Satellites: the potential of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations to provide PNT services have a great promise for future deployment of PNT hardware on these satellites.
The impact of jamming, spoofing, and encryption on emergency services devices. GNSS firewalls and the IEEE 1952 standard for resilient PNT user equipment. Similarly, holdover systems and devices can help in case of local accidents or deliberate jamming of GNSS signals, emphasizing the importance of diverse time sources.
Concerns about nation-state activities in space and the impact on satellite constellations. The wide range of failure modes and the importance of resilient solutions.
Government Investment
The UK Government is taking steps to enhance PNT resilience across sectors, including the National Timing Centre program and the 10-point policy framework.
Ongoing projects related to quantum technology will potentially impact on PNT resilience.
In final remarks, panellists emphasized the importance of continued engagement and education on PNT resilience.
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Contact the team
Tales Gaspar
Tales has a background in law and economics, with previous experience in the regulation of new technologies and infrastructure.
Luisa C. Cardani
Luisa C. Cardani is the Head of the Data Centres Programme at techUK, aiming to provide a collective voice for UK operators and working with government to improve business environment for the data centres sector.
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