Measurement of maximum time interval error for telecommunications clock stability characterization

Maximum time-interval error (MTIE) is historically one of the main time-domain quantities considered for the specification of clock stability requirements in telecommunications standards. In this paper, MTIE is first introduced according to its formal definition. Then, the main issue of its experimental measurement is pointed out: the heavy computational effort in most cases of practical interest. Therefore, two suitable methods to face up to this issue are herein discussed, summarizing the state of the art of MTIE measurement techniques in telecommunications. A new effective technique is proposed, with the aim to provide an easy but accurate way to test the compliance of telecommunications clocks with MTIE standard masks. Several results, measuring clocks deployed in telecommunications networks, are provided