

IEEE 1588 is designed for local systems requiring accuracies beyond those attainable using NTP. IEEE 802.1AS is an adaptation of PTP for use with Audio Video Bridging and Time-Sensitive Networking.Īccording to John Eidson, who led the IEEE 1588-2002 standardization effort, "IEEE 1588 is designed to fill a niche not well served by either of the two dominant protocols, NTP and GPS. Several profiles have been defined for applications including telecommunications, electric power distribution and audiovisual. IEEE 1588-2008 includes a profile concept defining PTP operating parameters and options. IEEE 1588-2019 was published in November 2019 and includes backward-compatible improvements to the 2008 publication. IEEE 1588-2008, also known as PTP Version 2 is not backward compatible with the 2002 version. The first version of PTP, IEEE 1588-2002, was published in 2002. PTP is employed to synchronize financial transactions, mobile phone tower transmissions, sub-sea acoustic arrays, and networks that require precise timing but lack access to satellite navigation signals. On a local area network, it achieves clock accuracy in the sub-microsecond range, making it suitable for measurement and control systems. The Precision Time Protocol ( PTP) is a protocol used to synchronize clocks throughout a computer network.
