Living In A Synchronized World: Wi-Fi Certified TimeSync Announced

[Julio Urquidi]

The Wi-Fi Alliance introduced TimeSync at this year’s CES. Designed to deliver precise, sub-second time synchronization between Wi-Fi devices, TimeSync will play an important role in scenarios where timing is important and needs to be accurate. Initially targeting the home entertainment market, TimeSync would be used in Hi-Fi sound where wireless speakers come into play, as well as home theater environments. “The result is a wireless rendering – free from jitter, drift, or echo – that delivers precise video and audio,” according to the Wi-Fi Alliance’s announcement.

Other applications that the Alliance thinks could benefit from TimeSync include industrial, automotive infotainment, and IoT.

For more information about TimeSync, check out the Wi-Fi Alliance’s website.

 

[Razor512]

If they are going to be syncing separate devices for audio, then wouldn't they need a physical connection similar to how multiple function generators can be connected in order to keep the outputs synchronized or have some external reference clock such as a rubidium frequency standard to ensure that the audio from 2 separate devices are in proper sync (and not drift over time) for something like stereo rear speakers, where you might not be able to run a wire to the front of the living room?

If not, would anyone notice if 2 audio sources are 1 microsecond out of sync?

 

[7stringjazz]

Thus began the end of civilization,... It was but a trivial announcement of a new time synchronization protocol that promised so much. Only later were we to realize the magnitude of this announcement. Using a unknown exploit in the TimeSync implementation, a malevolent AI was waking up and using the TimeSync to commandeer an army of IOTs to wreak havoc with microsecond precision. The combination of IOTs and the latest home routers completely mystified humans. The attacks grew more extreme and it was too late before we realized our situation. I write this in the hope that someone will know it was this innocuous announcement that would later be the key to our downfall with the machines.

 

[Chiny91]

providing sub-microsecond clock synchronization sounds impressive and I first read that as an attempt to replace ntp. But maybe not; it looks like a way to keep gizmos on the same network within microseconds, nothing to do with keeping time which could be wrong by little or lots. Should TimeSync stray out into the wider net, then sub-microsecond sync'ing seems hopeless. So, more about timing than time.