On the chronometry and metrology of computer network timescales and their application to the network time protocol

1 October 1991

journal article
Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review

Vol. 21 (5) , 8-17
https://doi.org/10.1145/122431.122432

Abstract

This paper summarizes issues in computer network timekeeping with respect to the Network Time Protocol, which is used to synchronize time in many of the hosts and gateways of the Internet. It describes the methods used to coordinate and disseminate international time services and how they are incorporated into NTP time servers. It discusses the hazards on reckoning NTP dates with the conventional civil calendar and a standard method for numbering the days. Finally, the paper describes the NTP timescale, its mapping to conventional civil time and date and its interpretation of leap seconds.

Keywords

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