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julianstj1 edited this page Jan 25, 2023 · 3 revisions

We have the Time Card working , but there is always room for improvement. Precision Time Applications are intricate projects involving hardware, firmware, kernel, and software development. Here's a current list of our ideas for future improvement.

To contact and discuss further with us, you can

  1. Use the Issues tab in this github repo
  2. Chat with us on the TAP discord, Time Appliances Project, https://discord.gg/fp8EXfJDec

Software

  1. A command line GUI, similar to a BIOS menu or nmtui, to interact with the time card
  • Different sub-menus like one for SMA configuration, one for GPS interaction, one for Atomic Clock interaction, one for TimeStamp logging, etc.
  1. A utility to interact with the i2c devices
  • Read / write EEPROM
  • Read IMU / temperature / voltage / current sensors
  • Control LED controller
  1. A command line utility (perhaps non-GUI based) to interact with the TimeStampers / Signal Generators / Frequency Counters inside the FPGA
  2. ts2phc, the general Linux tool, uses the PPS input of a device to discipline that device. We'd like to add support for PPS output instead. An example of this is a NIC with PPS output, goes into the Time Card PPS Input. By Reading the Timestamps from the Time Card, you should be able to discipline the NIC. Currently, this is not possible.
  3. A utility to program the U-blox inside the card, so you don't need to use external UART and U-center application from Laptop
  4. A GUI, either CLI-based or not, to use the Time Card as a Measurement Device, similar to a Calnex Sentinel

Firmware

  1. Proper support for OCXO daughter card, with the UART pins to the atomic clock footprint switching between I2C and UART based on MUX inside FPGA.

Kernel

  1. Support for I2C <-> UART switching for OCXO board support

Hardware

  1. RCB form factor boards for additional GNSS receivers, like U-blox LEA and other vendor receivers
  2. A guide or video on how to Program the Time Card
  • U-blox receiver programming
  • FPGA Programming over JTAG

Testing

  1. More rigorous holdover testing with different vendor oscillators, from TCXO to OCXO to Atomic clocks
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