A straightforward and optimized approach to achieve a cost-effective (€100) Stratum 1 NTP server, coordinated with highly precise PPS (Pulse Per Second) sourced from the GPS radio service plus NTP public servers across the internet to get the absolute time reference.
Can be prepared to be used with off-the-grid applications such as IoT in remote locations/air-gapped systems or WAN connected IoT ones (as presented here).
The end result with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ and an Adafruit Ultimate GPS HAT MTK3339:
This is my recipe for Raspberry Pi lite OS Bookworm, kernel 6.1.72-v8+.
- Achievements
- List of materials and tools needed
- Setup the server
- Advanced Adafruit MK3339 chip tuning
- Advanced system tuning
- References
- ns local clock timekeeping (std dev < 200 ns on PPS source)
- µs timekeeping across multiple networks (RMS offset < 100 ns)
- stable operation with low frequency value (usually ~ 5 ppm)
- serve time to more than 160 clients (capable of many more)
- optimize the MK3339 for NMEA timming only
- increase the serial baudrate to its maximum (up to 57600 bps)
- correct the timekeeping skew from CPU temperature flutuation
- Research system hardware topology, using lscpu
- Determine which CPU sockets and I/O slots are directly connected.
- Follow hardware manufacturer's guidelines for low latency hardware tuning.
- Ensure that adapter cards are installed in the most performant I/O.
- Ensure that CPU/memory/storage is installed and operating at its nominal supported frequency.
- Make sure the OS is fully updated.
- Enable network-latency tuned overlay settings.
- Verify that power management settings are correct and properly setup.
- Stop all unnecessary services/processes.
- Unload unnecessary kernel modules (to be assessed)
- Apply low-latency kernel command line setup(s).
- Perform baseline latency tests.
- Iterate, making isolated tuning changes, testing between each change.
Mandatory:
- Soldering iron to attach the pins to the Adafruit HAT
- SD Card with 8GB or more
- USB SD Card reader or other similar device to install Raspberry PI OS on the SD Card.
- Raspberry PI 3B+ with a suitable power adaptor
- Adafruit Ultimate GPS HAT
- RJ45 Ethernet CAT5 (or better) cable with proper lenght
Optional :
- 3D printed case for housing the fully assembled server (RPI 3B+):
I suggest this top and this bottom parts. PLA or PETG are generally appropriate, depending on the ambient temperature and environment you'll apply this server in.
- 4x 2.5mm X 10mm bolts and nuts
- CR1220 battery for the MK3339
- Outdoor GPS active antenna with 28dB Gain, inline powered at 3-5V DC, with 5 meters of cable lenght and SMA male connector
- SMA female connector to IPEX (UFL) Adapter
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install gpsd gpsd-tools gpsd-clients pps-tools chrony setserial -y
sudo systemctl disable --now [email protected]
sudo systemctl disable --now hciuart
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt
Remove this console=serial0,115200 and this kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 (if applicable) sequence(s) only and save.
Add this to your /boot/config.txt file:
[pi3+]
# Purposely made empty for advanced system tuning
[all]
# Uses the /dev/ttyAMA0 UART GPS instead of Bluetooth
dtoverlay=miniuart-bt
# Disables Bluetooth for better accuracy and lower interferance - optional
dtoverlay=disable-bt
# Disables Wifi for better accuracy and lower interferance - optional
dtoverlay=disable-wifi
# For Ultimate GPS HAT from Adafruit
dtoverlay=pps-gpio,gpiopin=4
# Disables kernel power saving
nohz=off
# Disables Energy Efficient Ethernet - improves jitter and lag (~200us)
dtparam=eee=off
# Force CPU high speed clock
force_turbo=1
sudo rm /etc/dhcp/dhclient-exit-hooks.d/timesyncd
sudo nano /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf
Remove the references for dhcp6.sntp-servers and ntp-servers
sudo systemctl disable --now systemd-timesyncd
sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/gps.rules
Add the content:
KERNEL=="ttyAMA0", RUN+="/bin/setserial /dev/ttyAMA0 low_latency"
sudo sed -i 's/CPU_DEFAULT_GOVERNOR="${CPU_DEFAULT_GOVERNOR:-ondemand}"/CPU_DEFAULT_GOVERNOR="${CPU_DEFAULT_GOVERNOR:-performance}"/; s/CPU_ONDEMAND_UP_THRESHOLD="${CPU_ONDEMAND_UP_THRESHOLD:-50}"/CPU_ONDEMAND_UP_THRESHOLD="${CPU_ONDEMAND_UP_THRESHOLD:-10}"/; s/CPU_ONDEMAND_DOWN_SAMPLING_FACTOR="${CPU_ONDEMAND_DOWN_SAMPLING_FACTOR:-50}"/CPU_ONDEMAND_DOWN_SAMPLING_FACTOR="${CPU_ONDEMAND_DOWN_SAMPLING_FACTOR:-10}"/' /etc/init.d/raspi-config
sudo reboot
sudo nano /etc/default/gpsd
Replace all the content with - Ultimate GPS HAT from Adafruit :
START_DAEMON="true"
USBAUTO="false"
DEVICES="/dev/ttyAMA0 /dev/pps0″
GPSD_OPTIONS="--nowait --passive --speed 9600"
sudo systemctl restart gpsd
sudo nano /etc/chrony/chrony.conf
Replace all the content with:
# Welcome to the chrony configuration file. See chrony.conf(5) for more
# information about usable directives.
# Include configuration files found in /etc/chrony/conf.d.
confdir /etc/chrony/conf.d
# ** CHANGE THIS ** -- DISABLE THIS FOR ISOLATED/AIRGAPED SYSTEMS
pool 0.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 5 maxpoll 5 polltarget 16 maxdelay 0.030 maxdelaydevratio 2 maxsources 6
pool 1.pool.ntp.org iburst minpoll 5 maxpoll 5 polltarget 16 maxdelay 0.030 maxdelaydevratio 2 maxsources 6
# ENABLE THIS FOR ISOLATED/AIRGAPED SYSTEMS
#cmdport 0
# Use NTP sources found in /etc/chrony/sources.d.
sourcedir /etc/chrony/sources.d
# This directive specify the location of the file containing ID/key pairs for
# NTP authentication.
keyfile /etc/chrony/chrony.keys
# This directive specify the file into which chronyd will store the rate
# information.
driftfile /var/lib/chrony/chrony.drift
# Save NTS keys and cookies.
ntsdumpdir /var/lib/chrony
# Set the NTS intermediate certificates
#ntsserverkey /etc/pki/tls/private/foo.example.net.key
#ntsservercert /etc/pki/tls/certs/foo.example.net.crt
#ntsratelimit interval 3 burst 1 leak 2
# Uncomment the following line to turn logging on.
#log tracking measurements statistics
log rawmeasurements measurements statistics tracking refclocks tempcomp
# Log files location.
logdir /var/log/chrony
# The lock_all directive will lock chronyd into RAM so that it will
# never be paged out. This mode is only supported on Linux. This
# directive uses the Linux mlockall() system call to prevent chronyd
# from ever being swapped out. This should result in lower and more
# consistent latency.
lock_all
# Stop bad estimates upsetting machine clock.
maxupdateskew 100.0
# Use it as reference during chrony startup in case the clock needs a large adjustment.
# The 1 indicates that if the system’s error is found to be 1 second or less, a slew will be used to correct it; if the error is above 1 secods, a step will be used.
initstepslew 1 time.facebook.com time.google.com
# enables response rate limiting for NTP packets - reduce the response rate for IP addresses sending packets on average more than once per 2 seconds, or sending packets in bursts of more than 16 packets, by up to 75% (with default leak of 2).
ratelimit interval 1 burst 16 leak 2
# specifies the maximum amount of memory that chronyd is allowed to allocate for logging of client accesses and the state that chronyd as an NTP server needs to support the interleaved mode for its clients.
# 1GB
clientloglimit 10000000
# This directive enables kernel synchronisation (every 11 minutes) of the
# real-time clock. Note that it can’t be used along with the 'rtcfile' directive.
rtcsync
# Step the system clock instead of slewing it if the adjustment is larger than
# one second, but only in the first three clock updates.
makestep 1 3
# Get TAI-UTC offset and leap seconds from the system tz database.
# This directive must be commented out when using time sources serving
# leap-smeared time.
leapsectz right/UTC
# Defining the networks allowed to access the service - DISABLE THIS FOR ISOLATED/AIRGAPED SYSTEMS
allow
# Expedited Forwarding DSCP directive traffic
dscp 48
# set larger delay to allow the NMEA source to overlap with
# the other sources and avoid the falseticker status
# https://chrony.tuxfamily.org/faq.html#using-pps-refclock
refclock SHM 0 poll 8 refid GPS precision 1e-1 offset 0.502 delay 0.2 noselect
# (4ns per foot)- http://www.philrandal.co.uk/blog/archives/2019/04/entry_213.html
#refclock SHM 1 refid PPS precision 1e-7 prefer offset 65.62e-9
refclock PPS /dev/pps0 lock GPS maxlockage 2 poll 4 refid PPS precision 1e-7 prefer offset 65.62e-9
# Compares and saves the SoC temperature with the temperature correlation table bellow, every 30 seconds - future improvement
tempcomp /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp 30 /etc/chrony/chrony.tempcomp
sudo nano /etc/chrony/chrony.tempcomp
Add the content:
20000 0
21000 0
25000 0
30000 0
35000 0
40000 0
45000 0
50000 0
55000 0
60000 0
65000 0
sudo systemctl restart chronyd.service
watch chronyc sources -v
Important
Wait for 15 minutes, at least, allowing the system clock to converge into a proper offset range, around sub milisecond.
Warning
This is optional! Proceed with caution and at your own risk!
Change the NMEA settings, sending exclusivly the timing one ($GPRMC), reducing the jitter on the GPS refclock:
Important
This setting might be not fully successful due to the way gpsd MTK-3301 driver works. Your mileage may vary.
Stop the gpsd service:
sudo service gpsd stop
Set the instruction:
echo -e '$PMTK314,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0*29\r\n' > /dev/ttyAMA0
Restart the gpsd service:
sudo service gpsd start
Although the new setting is non-persistant, you might need to revert to the default one:
echo -e '$PMTK314,-1*04\r\n' > /dev/ttyAMA0
Tip
As a failsafe, you might power it off and remove the CR1220 battery for a few minutes.
This reduces even further the NMEA sentences processing latency, by increasing the transmission speed.
Stop the gpsd service:
sudo service gpsd stop
Set the baudrate to 57600 bps:
echo -e '$PMTK251,57600*2C\r\n' > /dev/ttyAMA0
sudo nano /etc/default/gpsd
Replace all the content with:
START_DAEMON="true"
USBAUTO="false"
DEVICES="/dev/ttyAMA0 /dev/pps0″
GPSD_OPTIONS="--nowait --passive --speed 57600"
Restart the GPSd service
sudo systemctl restart gpsd
Although the new setting is non-persistant, you might need to revert to the default one:
echo -e '$PMTK251,9600*17\r\n' > /dev/ttyAMA0
sudo nano /etc/default/gpsd
Replace all the content with:
START_DAEMON="true"
USBAUTO="false"
DEVICES="/dev/ttyAMA0 /dev/pps0″
GPSD_OPTIONS="--nowait --passive --speed 9600"
Restart the GPSd service:
sudo systemctl restart gpsd
Tip
As a failsafe, you might power it off and remove the CR1220 battery for a few minutes.
Warning
This is optional! Proceed with caution and at your own risk!
- Ultimate GPS HAT from Adafruit: https://pinout.xyz/pinout/ultimate_gps_hat
sudo apt update && sudo apt install hwloc -y
lstopo --logical --output-format png > `hostname`.png
Due to the Chrony software has not the mechanism to reduce itself its nice process value, we'll force it through systemd:
sudo sed -i '/[Service]/a Nice=-10' /usr/lib/systemd/system/chrony.service
sudo systemctl daemon-relead
sudo systemctl restart chrony
sudo systemctl disable --now alsa-restore.service
sudo systemctl disable --now alsa-state.service
sudo systemctl disable --now alsa-utils.service
sudo systemctl disable --now apt-daily-upgrade.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now apt-daily.timer
sudo systemctl mask apt-daily-upgrade.service
sudo systemctl mask apt-daily.service
sudo systemctl disable --now avahi-daemon.service
sudo systemctl disable --now bluetooth.service
sudo systemctl disable --now [email protected]
sudo systemctl disable --now triggerhappy.service
sudo systemctl disable --now rpi-display-backlight.service
sudo systemctl disable --now systemd-timesyncd.service
sudo systemctl disable --now wpa_supplicant.service
sudo systemctl disable --now x11-common.service
Add this to your /boot/config.txt file under the [ALL]section:
# Allocates the base minimum gpu memory, as running headless
gpu_mem=16mb
Add this to your /boot/config.txt file under the [ALL]section:
# De-activates sound, aiming less resources, fewer latency and interferance expected, for a headless server
dtparam=audio=off
Check for markings about UHS-I, I, U1 or U3. If they exist, go ahead (at your own risk).
Add this to your /boot/config.txt file under the [pi3+]section:
[pi3+]
## Set the SDcard clock on 100 MHz, for UHS-I specs if appropriate.
dtparam=sd_overclock=100
The Raspberry Pi OS does not have this setting, useful in extreme cases, forcing a full system restart.
echo "kernel.panic = 10" | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/90-kernelpanic-reboot.conf >/dev/null
sudo apt remove --purge modemmanager -y
sudo apt autoremove --purge -y
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt
Add this noswap, after this rootfstype=ext4, and save.
sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
sudo dphys-swapfile uninstall
sudo update-rc.d dphys-swapfile remove
sudo reboot
That's all! :-)
- http://www.gregledet.net/computers/building-a-stratum-1-ntp-server-with-a-raspberry-pi-4-and-adafruit-ultimate-gps-hat/
- https://wiki.polaire.nl/doku.php?id=dragino_lora_gps_hat_ntp
- http://www.philrandal.co.uk/blog/archives/2019/04/entry_213.html
- https://chrony.tuxfamily.org/doc/4.2/chrony.conf.html#tempcomp
- https://hallard.me/enable-serial-port-on-raspberry-pi/
- https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2980860 (top case part original design, not available anymore)
- https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4200246
- https://gpsd.gitlab.io/gpsd/gpsd-time-service-howto.html#_arp_is_the_sound_of_your_server_choking
- https://dimon.ca/how-to-build-own-stratum-1-ntp-server/#h.1kdm8ehjrplc
- https://psychogun.github.io/docs/linux/Stratum-1-NTP-Server-using-Raspberry-Pi/
- https://chrony.tuxfamily.org/faq.html#_how_can_i_improve_the_accuracy_of_the_system_clock_with_ntp_sources
- https://tf.nist.gov/general/pdf/2871.pdf
- https://chrony-project.org/comparison.html (good reference on why I choose chrony over ntpd)
- https://dotat.at/@/2023-05-26-whence-time.html (time chain of service)
- https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/posts/comments/216264 (MTK-3301 gpsd driver undoing the setting of NMEA sentences for timming only)
- https://www.dzombak.com/blog/2023/12/Mitigating-hardware-firmware-driver-instability-on-the-Raspberry-Pi.html
- https://www.dzombak.com/blog/2023/12/Disable-or-remove-unneeded-services-and-software-to-help-keep-your-Raspberry-Pi-online.html
- https://www.dzombak.com/blog/2023/12/Stop-using-the-Raspberry-Pi-s-SD-card-for-swap.html
- https://access.redhat.com/sites/default/files/attachments/201501-perf-brief-low-latency-tuning-rhel7-v2.1.pdf (impressive guide aiming low latency on linux OS)
- https://blog.dan.drown.org/nic-interrupt-coalesce-impact-on-ntp/