The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies larger thanEth = 55 EeV. There is a correlation above the isotropic expectation with nearby active galaxies and the largest excess is in a celestial region around the position of the radio galaxy Cen A. If these anisotropies are due to nuclei of charge Z, the protons accelerated in those sources are expected, under reasonable assumptions, to lead to excesses in the same regions of the sky at energies above Eth/Z. We here report the lack of anisotropies at these lower energies for illustrative values of Z = 6, 13 and 26. These observations set stringent constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the sources.

http://inspirehep.net/record/770737/files/arXiv:0712.2843.pdf

The Pierre Auger Collaboration

This paper is about better engineering of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) through better models. Deterministic models have historically proven extremely useful and arguably form the kingpin of the industrial revolution and the digital and information technology revolutions. Key deterministic models that have proven successful include differential equations, synchronous digital logic and single-threaded imperative programs. Cyber-physical systems, however, combine these models in such a way that determinism is not preserved. Two projects show that deterministic CPS models with faithful physical realizations are possible and practical. The first project is PRET, which shows that the timing precision of synchronous digital logic can be practically made available at the software level of abstraction. The second project is Ptides (programming temporally-integrated distributed embedded systems), which shows that deterministic models for distributed cyber-physical systems have practical faithful realizations. These projects are existence proofs that deterministic CPS models are possible and practical.

The past, present and future of cyber-physical systems: a focus on models.

This paper argues that cyber-physical systems present a sub-stantial intellectual challenge that requires changes in both theories of computation and dynamical systems theory. The CPS problem is not the union of cyber and physical problems, but rather their intersection, and as such it demands models that embrace both. Two complementary approaches are identified: cyberizing the physical (CtP) means to endow physical subsystems with cyber-like abstractions and interfaces; and physicalizing the cyber (PtC) means to endow software and network components with abstractions and interfaces that represent their dynamics in time.

CPS foundations

This article describes time distribution in a White Rabbit Network. We start by presenting a short overview of the White Rabbit project explaining its requirements to highlight the importance of the timing aspects of the system. We then introduce the technologies used to achieve high clock accuracy, stability and resilience in all the components of the network. In particular, the choice of the IEEE 1588-2008 (PTP) and Synchronous Ethernet standards are explained. In order to accommodate hardware-supported mechanisms to increase PTP synchronization accuracy, we introduce the White Rabbit extension to PTP (WRPTP). The hardware used to supportWRPTP is presented.Measured results of WRPTP performance demonstrate sub-nanosecond accuracy over a 5km fiber optic link with a precision below 10ps and a reduced PTP-message exchange rate. Tests of the implementation show full compatibility with existing PTP gear.

White rabbit: a PTP application for robust sub-nanosecond synchronization

We review experimental progress on optical atomic clocks and frequency transfer, and consider the prospects of using these technologies for geodetic measurements. Today, optical atomic frequency standards have reached relative frequency inaccuracies below 10-17, opening new fields of fundamental and applied research. The dependence of atomic frequencies on the gravitational potential makes atomic clocks ideal candidates for the search for deviations in the predictions of Einstein's general relativity, tests of modern unifying theories and the development of new gravity field sensors. In this review, we introduce the concepts of optical atomic clocks and present the status of international clock development and comparison. Besides further improvement in stability and accuracy of today's best clocks, a large effort is put into increasing the reliability and technological readiness for applications outside of specialized laboratories with compact, portable devices. With relative frequency uncertainties of 10-18, comparisons of optical frequency standards are foreseen to contribute together with satellite and terrestrial data to the precise determination of fundamental height reference systems in geodesy with a resolution at the cm-level. The long-term stability of atomic standards will deliver excellent long-term height references for geodetic measurements and for the modelling and understanding of our Earth.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6633/aab409/pdf

Atomic clocks for geodesy

Reliable, fast and deterministic transmission of control information in a network is a need for many distributed systems. One example is timing systems, where a reference frequency is used to accurately schedule time-critical messages. The White Rabbit (WR) project is a multi-laboratory and multi-company effort to bring together the best of the data transfer and timing worlds in a completely open design. It takes advantage of the latest developments for improving timing over Ethernet, such as IEEE 1588 (Precision Time Protocol) and Synchronous Ethernet. The presented approach aims for a general purpose, fieldbus-like transmission system, which provides deterministic data and timing (sub-ns accuracy and ps jitter) to around 1000 stations. It automatically compensates for fiber lengths in the order of 10 km. This paper describes the WR design goals and the specification used for the project. It goes on to describe the central component of the WR system structure the WR switch - with theoretical considerations about the requirements. Finally, it presents real timing measurements for the first prototypes of WR hardware.

https://cds.cern.ch/record/1743073/files/thbl2.pdf

The white rabbit project

Today, there are several System on a Chip (SoC) bus systems. Typically, these buses are confined on-chip and rely on higher level components to communicate with the outside world. Taking these systems a step further, we see the possibility of extending the reach of the SoC bus to remote FPGAs or processors. This leads to the idea of the EtherBone (EB) core, which connects a Wishbone (WB) Ver. 4 Bus via a Gigabit Ethernet based network link to remote peripheral devices. EB acts as a transparent interconnect module towards attached WB Bus devices. Address information and data from one or more WB bus cycles is preceded with a descriptive header and encapsulated in a UDP/IP packet. Because of this standard compliance, EB is able to traverse Wide Area Networks and is therefore not bound to a geographic location. Due to the low level nature of the WB bus, EB provides a sound basis for remote hardware tools like a JTAG debugger, In-System-Programmer (ISP), boundary scan interface or logic analyser module. EB was developed in the scope of the WhiteRabbit Timing Project [1] (WR) at CERN and GSI/FAIR, which employs GigaBit Ethernet technology to communicate with memory mapped slave devices. WR will make use of EB as means to issue commands to its timing nodes and control connected accelerator hardware.

ETHERBONE - A NETWORK LAYER FOR THE WISHBONE SoC BUS

System-on-a-chip (SoC) bus systems are typically confined on-chip and rely on higher level components to communicate with the outside world. The idea behind the EtherBone (EB) protocol is to extend the reach of the SoC bus to remote field-programmable gate arrays or processors. The EtherBone core implementation connects a Wishbone (WB) Ver. 4 Bus via a Gigabit Ethernet based network link to remote peripheral devices. EB acts as a transparent interconnect module towards attached WB Bus devices. EB was developed in the scope of the WhiteRabbit Timing Project at CERN and GSI/FAIR. WhiteRabbit will make use of EB as a means to issue commands to its timing nodes and control connected accelerator hardware.

Open borders for system-on-a-chip buses: A wire format for connecting large physics controls

The White Rabbit (WR) project started off to provide a sequencing and synchronisation solution forthe needs of CERN andGSI. Since then, manyother usershaveadopted it to solve problems in the domain ofdistributed hardreal- time systems. Thepaper discusses the currentperformance of WR hardware, along with present and foreseen applica- tions. It also describes current efforts to standardise WR under IEEE 1588 and recent developmentsonreliability of timely data distribution, finishing with an outline of future plans.

/pdf/white-rabbit-status-and-prospects-38k75x1aaq.pdf

White rabbit status and prospects

The WhiteRabbit timing network is a deterministic field bus, based on synchronous GBit Ethernet and the Precision Time Protocol (PTP). The WR protocol was designed to provide precise timing and event distribution for high end real-time systems and was therefore chosen as the timing basis for the new GSI FAIR accelerator facility. With precise phase measurement to compensate for signal propagation delay, a timing accuracy down to sub-nanosecond rangeis feasible. To achievenecessarydeterminismandrobustness (packet loss of 10 12 ), an OSI layer two Forward Error Correction and Quality of Service protocol have been introduced to the concept. Special switches wield the WR protocol,while beingtransparentto normalEthernettraffic. Switch hardware is currently under development at CERN and will be a mixed FPGA/CPU solution. Working prototype cards have been introduced at the 3rd WR Workshop at CERN in 2009, demonstrating phase measurement and PTP capabilities. The presentation will contain detail on technical concepts, current project status, as well as future areas of application will be part of the discussion.

M Kreider

Papers

The white rabbit project

ETHERBONE - A NETWORK LAYER FOR THE WISHBONE SoC BUS

Open borders for system-on-a-chip buses: A wire format for connecting large physics controls

White rabbit status and prospects

Whiterabbit - a novel, high precision timing system