Clock leader monitoring for time-synchronized networks

Abstract

Various systems and methods for evaluating time synchronization values provided from a clock leader are discussed. An example method performed by a clock follower device includes: obtaining a timestamp from a time synchronization protocol that provides synchronized time values from a clock leader; determining, based on the timestamp, a measured time drift value that represents a time drift of a hardware clock, with the time drift observed relative to the clock leader; determining an estimated time drift value that models a time drift of the hardware clock, modeled from one or more environmental conditions experienced by the hardware clock; comparing the measured time drift value with the estimated time drift value; and adjusting a clock of the device based on the timestamp, in response to validating that the measured time drift value is within a statistically expected range corresponding to the estimated time drift value.