Publikation
Demo: High-Precision GNSS-Free Time Synchronization Using the 5G-RBIS Protocol
Michael Gundall; Jan Petershans; Julian Remmet; Leonard Kleinberger; Hans Dieter Schotten
In: 17th International Conference on Network of the Future. International Conference on Network of the Future (NoF-2026), September 29 - October 2, Rome, Italy, IEEE, 10/2026.
Zusammenfassung
Precise wireless time synchronization is essential for industrial applications requiring sub-microsecond level accuracy, yet current 5G implementations still cannot fulfill this requirement or depend on GNSS, which is vulnerable to jamming. This demo presents 5G-RBIS, a GNSS-free synchronization protocol adapted from Reference Broadcast Infrastructure Synchronization (RBIS) for 5G and future 6G networks, requiring no infrastructure changes. Using software defined radios and hardware timestamping, we compare 5G-RBIS against a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) PTP-based approach under idle and network loaded conditions. While COTS-based PTP degrades from about 4 ms to about 74.9 ms under load, 5G-RBIS maintains 25 ns precision throughout. A live Grafana dashboard visualizes clock offsets and allows interactive control of network conditions during the demonstration