Re-Engineering Internet Timekeeping for Scalability, Accuracy, and Trust

Funding: 2017: $120,000
2018: $112,000
2019: $120,000

Project Member(s): Veitch, D.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)

Start year: 2017

Summary: All computers incorporate a software clock, essential to myriad software applications. An inexpensive and convenient way to synchronise such clocks is over a network, however the approach the Internet currently depends upon is unreliable and insecure. This project aims to define and solve the key research problems underpinning a secure and extensible system for network timekeeping, and implement and test a prototype under realistic conditions over the Internet. The expected outcome will be trusted software clocks of high accuracy and reliability supporting applications like cloud computing, billing systems and secure communications, well positioned to become the next generation timekeeping system for the Internet and the Internet of Things.

Publications:

Cao, Y & Veitch, D 1970, 'Network Timing, Weathering the 2016 Leap Second', IEEE INFOCOM 2018 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, IEEE INFOCOM 2018 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, IEEE, Honolulu, HI, USA, pp. 1826-1834.
View/Download from: Publisher's site

Keywords: Internet, timekeeping, Internet of Things, clock synchronisation, security

FOR Codes: Networking and Communications, Computer System Architecture, Signal Processing, Fixed Line Data Networks and Services, Application Tools and System Utilities, Internet Hosting Services (incl. Application Hosting Services), Software architecture, Network systems and services, Information systems, technologies and services not elsewhere classified

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.