NTP

Work Plan

Milestone 1: Basic NTP client for Linux

Implement an NTP client for Linux aiming for ~1ms precision.

• Direct network interface
• Measurement analysis and processing
• Clock adjustment (POSIX)
• Initial client/server connection state management
• Initial configuration & status interface
• Initial testing & test infrastructure
• Some hardware for a limited test lab

Estimated timeline: 3 months
Cost: $136,000

Milestone 2: NTP server + NTS for Linux

Implement server-side functionality and add support for the NTS protocol.

• NTS protocol support
• Complete client/server connection state management
• Extend configuration & status interface
• Extended testing & test infrastructure

Estimated timeline: 3 months
Cost: $161,000

Milestone 3: Additional OS support, peer connections, security audit

Extend support to other operating systems and larger deployments.

• Support for macOS and FreeBSD
• Peer connection management
• Detailed clock control for Linux
• Security audit

Estimated timeline: 3 months
Cost: $124,000

Milestone 4: Hardware device support

Implement support for one representative hardware clock device.

Estimated timeline: 1 month
Cost: $44,000

Milestone 5: Communications and Adoption Work

• Communicate about completed project
• Do the work to switch Let’s Encrypt to using the new NTP implementation
• Advocate for adoption by Linux distributions and others shipping NTP implementations

Estimated timeline: 3 months
Cost: $50,000