u-blox, a global leader in positioning and short-range communication technologies, has announced the integration of Switzerland’s UTC-traceable timing infrastructure into its GNSS test laboratory in Thalwil. The collaboration with the Federal Institute of Metrology METAS and Switch, operator of Switzerland’s national research and education network, provides u-blox with continuous access to a UTC-traceable reference via an unbroken and documented chain of calibrations, ensuring full measurement traceability. This enables nanosecond-level time synchronization directly within the lab, accelerating the validation of GNSS timing receivers and supporting the development of next-generation timing products.
The significance of this development lies in the critical role that precise synchronization and timing stability play in GNSS timing technologies. Performance fundamentally depends on validation against trusted UTC references. By bringing the METAS time dissemination service directly into its infrastructure, u-blox can now rapidly validate new hardware and software releases for GNSS timing receivers in-house, without the need for repeated access to external metrology facilities. This infrastructure also facilitates long-term timing stability measurements over periods ranging from weeks to months against a stable UTC-traceable reference, enhancing the development and validation workflow.
“High-performance GNSS timing products depend on rigorous and traceable timing validation throughout the development cycle,” said Samuli Pietilä, Director of Product Line Management, Timing and Infrastructure at u-blox. “This infrastructure allows us to validate and continuously improve GNSS timing receiver performance directly in our own laboratory against a UTC-traceable reference.”
The technology underpinning this service is White Rabbit, an Ethernet-based synchronization technology originally developed at CERN for large-scale scientific infrastructure requiring ultra-precise timing accuracy. White Rabbit enables sub-nanosecond synchronization over fiber-optic networks and is increasingly adopted in advanced industrial and scientific environments. METAS realizes, maintains, and disseminates UTC(CH), Switzerland’s contribution to Coordinated Universal Time, while Switch provides the fiber-optic network over which the timing signal is disseminated.
Jacques Morel, Head of the Laboratory Photonics, Time and Frequency at METAS, expressed satisfaction with the collaboration: “We are pleased to support u-blox with our time dissemination service. This collaboration demonstrates how national metrology infrastructure can support advanced industrial applications requiring highly accurate synchronization, timing precision, and traceable validation against UTC references.”
The integration also underscores the strength of Switzerland’s precision technology ecosystem, bringing together national metrology expertise, optical timing infrastructure, and advanced GNSS timing technologies. The timing infrastructure is now operational in the u-blox GNSS laboratory and will support ongoing development and validation activities for GNSS timing products.
