Tiqker™, SecureSync® and White Rabbit ecosystem

The modern time and frequency synchronization of architecture has become a critical component for infrastructures that require extreme precision, low latency, and large-scale temporal coherence. In sectors where decisions are made within picoseconds and nanoseconds the ability to generate, stabilize, and distribute a common time reference is not merely a technical requirement, but a direct enabler of innovation and competitiveness. This type of architecture integrates high-precision reference sources, atomic clocks, and robust distribution mechanisms to ensure both short-term and long-term stability.

In this context, high-precision GNSS receivers such as SecureSync® serve as a fundamental foundation for traceability back to global standards such as UTC. These systems provide a highly reliable reference derived from satellite constellations, delivering disciplined timing that acts as the starting point for the entire infrastructure. Their role is essential in generating a master clock for critical networks, where redundancy and resilience against external degradation are just as important as absolute accuracy.

Building on this GNSS foundation, next-generation technologies such as the optical atomic clock Tiqker™ from Infleqtion introduce a qualitative leap in short-term stability. Unlike conventional oscillators, optical atomic clocks offer superior stability over short time intervals, which is crucial for ultra-low jitter applications, critical event synchronization, and temporal coherence in advanced distributed systems. This capability effectively “smooths out” the inherent limitations of GNSS references in scenarios where immediate stability and continuity are essential.

The distribution of this time reference across multiple geographically dispersed nodes is achieved through the Z16 devices (WRZ family), which enables the transfer of timing signals without degradation over hundreds of kilometers of optical fiber. These systems rely on the White Rabbit protocol, capable of maintaining picosecond coherence between distributed nodes. This combination makes it possible to build deterministic, scalable, and extremely precise synchronization networks, even in complex or geographically distributed environments.

Together, this Safran architecture proposal completes an ecosystem for high-accuracy and high-stability time and frequency generation, stabilization, and distribution. Its impact is especially significant in fintech, where synchronization underpins the integrity of high-frequency transactions; in data centers, where it improves coherence across distributed nodes; in science and quantum technologies, where triggers, sensors and data timestamping depend on phase and absolute timing precision; and in defense, where temporal coordination is essential for communications, positioning, and coordinated operations. This convergence of technologies represents a major step forward toward more precise, resilient, and interoperable timing infrastructures.

Full redundancy architecture

A redundant topology in which SecureSync® units steer UTC to the Tiqker™ through the 1 PPS signal and distribute that stabilized reference across two independent data centers delivers multiple layers of resilience, accuracy, and operational continuity. By combining GNSS-based long-term accuracy with the superior short-term stability of the optical atomic clock, the system ensures a continuously disciplined and low-noise time source even in the event of GNSS degradation or temporary signal loss. Distributing this reference to geographically separated data centers eliminates single points of failure.

Additionally, the interconnection of both sites through a backup link based on the White Rabbit protocol provides an extra layer of redundancy, maintaining sub-nanosecond synchronization even if one reference is disrupted (see Figure 1). This architecture enhances fault tolerance, supports seamless failover, and guarantees deterministic timing performance across critical infrastructures, making it especially valuable for environments that demand uninterrupted, ultra-precise synchronization.

WR dissemination architecture (secondary Tiqker™ as a backup)

Interconnecting two geographically separated data centers through a single, common time and frequency reference generated by SecureSync® and the optical atomic clock Tiqker™ while using White Rabbit as the primary reference in the secondary data center means an improvement in temporal coherence, reaching phase alignment in the picosecond range. By anchoring both sites to the same physical clock source rather than relying on independent local references, absolute phase and frequency errors between data centers are reduced by eliminating GNSS intrinsic drifts and offset in the nanosecond order.

Leveraging White Rabbit as the primary reference in the secondary site preserves sub-nanosecond precision over fiber, ensuring the superior short-term stability that can be provided by Tiqker™ faithfully transferred without degradation (See Figure 2). This architecture is particularly advantageous for use cases requiring ultra-tight synchronization, such as high-frequency trading.

Performance evaluation

This section shows some laboratory tests run in Safran facilities with the aim of validating the value proposition explained above. The evaluation of Tiqker™ holdover performance is critical to demonstrate the system’s ability to maintain exceptional timing stability during GNSS outages, preserving phase continuity and minimizing drift over extended periods.

In addition, testing the White Rabbit dissemination architecture between Tiqker™ units highlights the capability to transfer ultra-stable frequency and phase references across distributed nodes without degradation. These scenarios validate not only resilience under degraded conditions but also the feasibility of building fully coherent multi-site timing networks.

Tiqker™ Holdover

Figure 3 illustrates the connectivity between a SecureSync® device and a Tiqker™. This kind of configuration allows GNSS synchronization through the satellite reception of the SS2400, plus the steering of the Tiqker™ reference through its 1 PPS input to obtain an enhanced level of accuracy and stability (enabling the Tiqker™ short-term offset contribution and the SS2400 long-term offset contribution).

This setup considers an additional 1 PPS connection from the Tiqker™ to the SS2400, which was used during the testing to provide a backup reference in the SS2400 device. Taking advantage of the failover mechanisms available in the SS2400, it was possible to measure the Tiqker™ holdover performance when the GNSS reference was denied. In this scenario, since the SS2400 detects that the GNSS reference is no longer available, the Tiqker™ has the ability, instantly, to operate on its own high-stability and high-accuracy holdover performance.

Figure 4 shows the holdover performance of the Tiqker™ after switching over from the steered GNSS-disciplined reference to its local atomic oscillator. The graphic contains a 5-day period in which the Tiqker™ followed the PPS reference from the SS2400 over the first 4 days. The last day (starting in the red line) shows the failover event where the synchronization flow between the SS2400 and the Tiqker™ became inversed thanks to the backup 1 PPS connection.

The results obtained in this test state that, after 1 day in holdover, the Tiqker™ PPS offset (drift) is lower than 55 ns. Furthermore, the enhancement of the Tiqker™ short-term stability was proved over that holdover period (green curve) while comparing it with the SS2400 (purple curve).

WR dissemination architecture (from Tiqker™ to Tiqker™)

The goal in this test is to compare the stability (analyzing the ADEV metric) of two different scenarios in which the frequency reference from a Tiqker™ has been distributed to a secondary Tiqker™. Figure 5 represents the lowest accuracy and stability degradation between two Tiqker™s (baseline scenario), as the originated reference is transferred using the 1 PPS signal through a coaxial cable.

On the other hand, Figure 6 represents the Tiqker™ reference distribution over a long-distance White Rabbit link (using a 50 km single-strand fiber spool). Two Z16 devices are considered to distribute the frequency and time reference from the primary Tiqker™ to the secondary one.

tau (s)	Baseline		WR dissemination
	ADEV	Noise Floor	ADEV	Noise Floor
0.1	4.424E-12	2.53193E-13	4.351E-12	2.40258E-13
0.2	2.898E-12	1.66314E-13	2.841E-12	1.47857E-13
0.4	1.14E-12	7.1411E-14	1.157E-12	7.36053E-14
1	4.859E-13	3.42933E-14	5.019E-13	3.32412E-14
2	3.214E-13	1.41042E-14	3.469E-13	1.57451E-14
4	2.381E-13	1.00637E-14	2.516E-13	9.72344E-15
10	2.04E-13	5.02184E-15	1.98E-13	5.31961E-15
20	2E-13	3.6158E-15	1.78E-13	3.77262E-15
40	1.32E-13	2.43322E-15	1.29E-13	2.5121E-15
100	5.57E-14	1.27117E-15	6.5E-14	1.87667E-15
200	2.87E-14	6.60716E-16	3.57E-14	1.90586E-15
400	1.71E-14	3.83555E-16	2.21E-14	1.6388E-15
1000	5.8E-15		6.9E-15
2000	2.9E-15		5.3E-15
4000	1.4E-15		1.6E-15

Conclusions

The results presented in this white paper highlight a clear evolution in time and frequency synchronization architectures toward more resilient, precise, and distributed architectures. The combination of SecureSync (acting as a GNSS receiver) and Tiqker (acting as an optical atomic clock) demonstrates a significant improvement in short-term stability and the capability to maintain temporal continuity under conditions of GNSS degradation or loss. In this context, the observed holdover performance confirms the level of temporal coherence that can be sustained without continuous reliance on external references.

In addition, the distribution of the time and frequency references based on the White Rabbit low-jitter performance provided by Z16 demonstrates that synchronization nodes can maintain the level of accuracy and precision with insignificant degradation. The consistency of the stability results (ADEV) with respect to the baseline scenario reinforces the feasibility of deploying highly coherent multi-site architectures, where multiple clocks operate as a unified distributed system with minimal phase and frequency error.

Overall, these results support an infrastructure model in which local time generation based on optical atomic clocks, combined with fiber-based dissemination, becomes the core of the synchronization system, while GNSS is relegated to a long-term UTC reference and backup role. For this reason, this approach improves the absolute accuracy to UTC and introduces a critical layer of resilience against interference, failures, or external threats, enabling more robust and deterministic operational environments.

This vision is further extended in real-world deployments such as in quantum services (quantum key distribution, quantum computing, quantum sensing, etc.), based on quantum communications over fiber, where high stability and accuracy must be enabled to the metropolitan and regional scale. The alignment between laboratory results and such deployments demonstrates that quantum-grade synchronization is no longer a theoretical concept, but a practical and scalable capability. As a result, sectors such as financial services, data centers, telecommunications, science, and defense can benefit from a new generation of timing infrastructures characterized by deterministic sub-nanosecond accuracy and stability, plus significantly enhanced resilience compared to traditional approaches.

Acknowledgments:

• Pablo Azpeitia
  Application Engineer | Applications Engineering, Safran Electronics & Defense
• Jaime Jamarillo
  PNT | Timing | Quantum | Growth Driver, Safran Electronics & Defense