Union Minister commissioned the White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL), Bengaluru.
Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Network
Commissioned At: Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL), Bengaluru.
Developed By: Department of Consumer Affairs, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (CSIR–NPL), and ISRO.
Objective: To securely disseminate Indian Standard Time (IST) across the country.
Time Reference: IST is traceable to UTC (NPLI), maintained by CSIR–NPL, India’s national time-keeping authority.
Technology Used: White Rabbit Technology based on the Precision Time Protocol (PTP).
Key Applications: Banking, financial markets, telecommunications, power grids, transportation, digital governance, and strategic infrastructure.
Demonstration: Successfully validated secure IST dissemination between RRSL Bengaluru and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Chennai.
White Rabbit Technology
About: A high-precision optical fibre-based time synchronisation protocol.
Developed By: CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research).
Accuracy: Synchronises clocks with an accuracy of less than one nanosecond (10⁻⁹ second).
Key Feature: Continuously compensates for signal delays, eliminating time drift and ensuring highly precise synchronisation.
Significance
Strategic Importance: Reduces India’s dependence on foreign satellite-based timing systems such as GPS.
Security: Strengthens the security, resilience, and reliability of India’s critical digital infrastructure.
Operational Efficiency: Enables precise and secure time synchronisation for mission-critical sectors such as finance, telecommunications, power, transport, and digital governance.