Method for synchronizing interconnected digital equipment

TL;DR: In this paper, the synchronization planning and clock distribution for a network of interconnected digital equipment is achieved by designating a network node at the highest stratum level as the master clock node, forming a group of all unassigned nodes connected to the assigned node or nodes, selecting subgroup of all nodes from the group, limiting the subgroup to the nodes which have a desired characteristic, determining the synchronization performance of each node in the sub group according to a predetermined criterion, assigning one node from the sub-group as a clock timing receiver wherein the one node exhibits the best performance

Abstract: Optimized synchronization planning and clock distribution for a network of interconnected digital equipment is achieved by designating a network node at the highest stratum level as the master clock node, forming a group of all unassigned nodes connected to the assigned node or nodes, selecting subgroup of all nodes from the group wherein the subgroup includes all nodes having the highest stratum level of the group, limiting the subgroup to the nodes which have a desired characteristic when such nodes are included in the subgroup, determining the synchronization performance of each node in the subgroup according to a predetermined criterion, assigning one node from the subgroup as a clock timing receiver wherein the one node exhibits the best performance for nodes in the subgroup, and iterating the method at the forming step. In order to obtain an optimum synchronization plan, it is desirable to repeat the entire method described above for the complete set of nodes which are capable of being designated as a master clock node. When more than one node is capable of being considered as a master clock node, the synchronization planning method is then completed by computing the network synchronization perforamnce for each synchronization plan related to a different designated master clock node and choosing the synchronization plan which offers the best network synchronization performance as computed above.