u-blox enhances GNSS timing validation with nanosecond-accurate METAS time service
u-blox, the Federal Institute of Metrology METAS, responsible for the dissemination of the Swiss official time, and Switch, operator of Switzerland’s national research and education network, today announced the integration of Switzerland’s UTC-traceable timing infrastructure into the u-blox GNSS test laboratory in Thalwil.
Through this collaboration, u-blox gains continuous access to a UTC-traceable reference via an unbroken and documented chain of calibrations, ensuring full measurement traceability. METAS realises, maintains, and disseminates UTC(CH), Switzerland’s contribution to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), while Switch provides the fibre-optic network over which the timing signal is disseminated using White Rabbit technology. This service delivers nanosecond-level time synchronisation directly within the u-blox laboratory, accelerating the validation of GNSS timing receivers and strengthening the development of next-generation timing products.
For GNSS timing technologies, performance fundamentally depends on precise synchronisation, timing stability, and validation against trusted UTC references. By integrating the METAS time dissemination service directly into its laboratory infrastructure, u-blox can rapidly validate new hardware and software releases for GNSS timing receivers in-house, without requiring repeated access to external metrology facilities.
The infrastructure also enables long-term timing stability measurements over extended periods ranging from weeks to months against a stable UTC-traceable reference source, strengthening the development and validation workflow for next-generation GNSS timing products.
“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.”
White Rabbit is an Ethernet-based synchronisation technology originally developed at CERN for large-scale scientific infrastructure requiring ultra-precise timing accuracy. The technology enables sub-nanosecond synchronisation over fibre-optic networks and is increasingly being adopted in advanced industrial and scientific environments.
METAS operates Switzerland’s national time standards and provides traceable time dissemination services supporting research, infrastructure, and industrial innovation.
“We are pleased to support u-blox with our time dissemination service,” said Jacques Morel, Head of the Laboratory Photonics, Time and Frequency at METAS. “This collaboration demonstrates how national metrology infrastructure can support advanced industrial applications requiring highly accurate synchronisation, timing precision, and traceable validation against UTC references.”
The timing infrastructure is now operational in the u-blox GNSS laboratory and will support ongoing development and validation activities for GNSS timing products.
