Implementation and Performance Analysis of PTP and NTP Servers on the Raspberry Pi CM5

Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) are key standards for network time synchronization, offering sub-millisecond and sub-microsecond accuracy, respectively. This paper presents the implementation of NTP and PTP servers on the Raspberry Pi CM5, equipped with a GNSS receiver module, enabling clients to select their preferred synchronization protocol. Performance evaluation demonstrates that CM5 clients achieve superior synchronization accuracy compared to Ubuntu clients using the Intel I210. The study further emphasizes the impact of synchronization interval configuration, showing that suboptimal settings can degrade performance. The results confirm PTP’s ability to achieve sub-microsecond accuracy, making it ideal for time-critical applications like Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), while NTP remains effective for less demanding scenarios.