Performance evaluation of IEEE 1588 protocol with modified LibPTP in OMNet++

IEEE 1588 specifically describes the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for clock synchronization across multiple domains. The PTP implementations have a large design space because of the range of possibilities in the delay mechanism, types of clocks and topological variations. Time synchronization is considered as a challenge for real time applications such as smart grids, Internet of Things and Telecommunications etc. Multiple algorithms have been proposed to perform synchronization in which the IEEE 1588 standard defines the most reliable synchronization protocol while providing up to sub-microsecond time precision. In this paper, we have made a comparison of IEEE 1588 and IEEE 802.15.4 standards to get a sensible decision of the synchronization protocol for real time applications. Also, we have modified the existing LibPTP library to analyze the real time network traffic that can influence the synchronization process. Through simulation based studies, we have been able to analyze the performance of IEEE 1588 protocol in a constrained network.