ADVA launches industry’s first ePRC optical cesium clock solution

ADVA has launched the industry’s first ePRC optical cesium atomic clock solution, protecting synchronization networks from costly and dangerous interruptions to satellite signals. The Oscilloquartz OSA 3350 ePRC+ provides unprecedented stability and significantly longer lifetime compared to all other ePRC cesium clocks. It’s also the first cesium clock on the market with built-in SNMP support. This innovation in the design of atomic clocks comes at a critical time when GNSS outages caused by jamming and spoofing attacks are on the rise. Long GNSS disruptions can cause severe network outages and so the OSA 3350 ePRC+ offers vital backup for mission-critical infrastructures that depend on satellite-based timing, such as mobile networks and power utilities. The OSA 3350 ePRC+ also meets the stringent performance demands as well as the cost points needed for mobile networks transitioning to 5G. 

“Our OSA 3350 ePRC+ is a truly unique achievement and its importance to the industry can’t be overstated. It arrives at a crucial time with operators seeking an efficient way to deliver highly accurate, ultra-stable frequency and phase synchronization with significantly longer lifetime than existing cesium clocks. Now they can mitigate GNSS vulnerabilities by harnessing market-leading holdover performance for the most robust backup available,” said Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz, ADVA. “Creating a viable commercial optical atomic clock has been a key mission for a long time. By achieving it, we’re making sure that communication service providers never again have to compromise between performance and lifetime. And, with a frequency stability that outperforms current ITU-T ePRC G.811.1 standards, our OSA 3350 ePRC+ provides the safety net needed for 5G networks.” 

Featuring an all-digital design, the OSA 3350 ePRC+ leverages optical-pumping techniques. It greatly improves performance by providing an extremely stable frequency source. When used with enhanced primary reference time clocks (ePRTCs), the OSA 3350 ePRC+ delivers holdover for 14 days with an accumulated error of up to 35 nanoseconds. This far exceeds the ITU-T ePRC G.811.1 standard that requires an accumulated error under 70 nanoseconds. The OSA 3350 ePRC+ also delivers optimum stability for over 10 years, which is 100% longer than the lifespan of high-performance magnetic cesium clocks. With a fully modular design, the optical cesium solution features a wide range of telecom synchronization output interfaces and supports modern and secured management capabilities with SNMP. What’s more, the RoHS-compliant device is fully integrated into ADVA’s Ensemble management and control software suite for operational simplicity and ease of use. 

“With our OSA 3350 ePRC+, we’re providing a critical component of tomorrow’s network synchronization. For decades, engineers have focused on maximizing the performance of magnetic cesium clocks despite their limitations. Now we’re opening up a new chapter in the history of time and frequency delivery with a technology that optimizes both performance and lifetime,” commented Nir Laufer, senior director, product line management, Oscilloquartz, ADVA. “The incredible stability and accuracy that our OSA 3350 ePRC+ generates will bring essential improvements needed for 5G and other critical infrastructures deriving timing from GNSS. At a time when jamming and spoofing attacks are increasing in frequency and duration, it offers vital backup to satellite-based timing. Our OSA 3350 ePRC+ is also fully integrated into our Ensemble network management software suite with built-in SNMP. It couldn’t be easier to monitor the health of the device and perform software upgrades remotely at the touch of the button.”