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NTS-4000-S GPS
NTP Time Server
For Accurate Time
Reference Manual
1
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Index
Index
Introduction
Features
Package Contents
GPS Receiver Enclosed in an IP65 “Weather Proof” Box
Wiring requirements for NTS 4000
Hardware Installation
Wire Length
Frequently Asked Questions
Server Location
Connect to Network
Install the Antenna
Connecting Server to Antenna
Configuration
Configuring the Server
Install Windows Based Configuration Program
Network Configuration
Time Server Configuration Options
Search
Broadcast Search
Search by IP
Debug
Upgrade Firmware
Client Configuration
Timesync
K9
Windows XP
Linux/Unix
Time Server Fundamentals
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5-6
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8
9-10
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2
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Introduction
The NTS-4000 timeserver provides the correct time to computers on a local area network
(LAN).
Correct time is derived from either Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), or radio-based
broadcasts from Cumbria in the UK (MSF), Frankfurt in Europe (DCF77), and Fort Collins,
Colorado in the US (WWVB). Once installed on a computer network the NTS-4000 provides a
server for the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
Each PC on the network can retrieve the time from the server using a NTP client. The NTS4000 Time Server provides a bridge between Ethernet wired LANs and GPS and radio based
time sources.
Features
•Hardware clock support
•Interfaces directly to 10/100Mbps IEEE 802.3 Ethernet networks
•Firmware is stored in flash memory and can be upgraded
•Windows based configuration program
•Power and network activity LED indicators
•Optional dual external antennas supporting diversity
NTS 4000-S
3
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Installation
Package Contents
Before installing the unit, first locate the following parts:
•NTS-4000 Time Server
•GPS Antenna unit and power supply
•IEC Power Cables and power connector
Time Server unit
NTS 4000-S
Separate power supply
There is a junction box on the rear of the unit (In the MSF unit the junction box uses four-core
cable, in the GPS version, six-core cable is used).
The unit is powered by an IEC cable, its operating voltages are between 100v and 240v
(0.8amp).
GPS Receiver Enclosed in an IP65 “Weather Proof” Box
The cable used for the antenna is six-core unscreened alarm cable; this can be purchased from
Galleon Systems or from a local electrical retailer.
4
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Wiring Requirement for the NTS 4000
5
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
6
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Hardware Installation
The following diagram summarises the hardware configuration.
GPS Clock Installation
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Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Wire Length
When cutting the wires to set up the 15 way D-type connector we advise you not to cut the
wires too far back as this can cause a possible shortening to the system or the antenna.
See below for a picture guide on how much we recommend you cut off:
8
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What do the three LED’s on the front of the display mean?
A: The A LED represents that there is power going to the Unit, the B LED is the GPS Signal
and the C is the MSF/WWVB/DCF Signal Either of these or both if you have a Dual unit will be
flashing showing you that the unit is picking up the signal from the respective antenna
Q: How do you use the software to program the unit?
A: After installing the software on you PC double click on the config software program the
program will load up and identify the unit connected double click on the unit and will bring up a
Configuration pop up box which will show you the IP address, netmask, gateway and IP mode
this IP mode can be changed from DHCP to Static IP. Click on ok and the unit is now
programmed.
Q: How do you use the software to debug the unit?
A: The software has on the top section a debug button this will pop out a window like cmd
prompt window this will then start showing data from the unit and you can read any error
messages that are coming from the Unit, we also recommend that you check all cabling to the
unit as this might also be a cause to errors in the unit
9
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Q: The GPS unit cannot pick up the signal - what can be done to improve this?
A: The ideal location for the GPS antenna is the roof of the building as the Antenna needs to get
the best possible chance to receive the signal from the satellites
Q: Can the cabling for the antenna be taken across the existing CAT5 cabling structure in our
building?
A: Yes, the GPS antenna can be taken across CAT5 / UTP cabling however the cabling must
be “point to point” and cannot pass through routers, hubs or switches.
Q: What type of cable should I use for extending the GPS antenna to 1000 metres?
A: The GPS antenna uses standard unscreened four-core cable; in most cases this is adequate
however in some cases screen cable may be required.
Note: The cabling is referred to as “six-core alarm cable”
10
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Server Location
Choose a suitable location for the NTS-4000; please bear in mind you will need to run a cable
from this location preferably to the roof of the building or to a window.
Connect to Network
Connect the NTS-4000 to the network using a standard RJ45 cable.
Install antenna
Locate a mains power supply on the roof of the building or a mains power supply that can be
accessed from the roof.
Choose an area to mount the GPS antenna; the ideal place would be the roof of the Building .
Things to avoid are air conditioning units and power distribution units, as these will cause
electrical interference.
Connecting the server to the antenna
The cable should be run from the rack mount enclosure to the selected mounting position
Hint: It is a good idea to leave some slack cable in case you need to move the unit later.
Note: The maximum cable length is 1000 metres (1 KM).
11
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Configuration
Display and system start-up
First power the GPS antenna then power up the NTS-4000. The LCD display should show the
following information:
• Current time (when synchronised)
• IP address of the Ethernet port
• The synchronisation state of the system
When the system starts, it will initially display a message:
GPS xxxxxx, Radio Pulse x, IP
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Unsynchronised
This indicates that the system is searching for an initial timestamp from the antenna. Once this
is achieved, the system sets its internal clock using the accurate time data. After power is
applied, the server should be able to provide correct time within a few minutes of the correct
clock operation. The delay is due to the NTS-4000 locating and synchronising to the time signal.
Note: The display will show GPS xxxxx and Radio Pulse xxx whether one or both types of
antenna are connected. The GPS message will show whether GPS data is received and if a fix
has been achieved. The Radio clock messages shows if pulses are being receive, typically this
value should change once every second, if the value changes intermittently or not at all, the
radio antenna may need to be repositioned.
Once synchronised the display should change to:
Synchronised to xxx, IP
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss
Once synchronised the system can tolerate the loss of signal for 30 minutes before it becomes
unsynchronized, once synchronised and calibrated (approximately 30 minutes after the first
time the NTS-4000 was synchronised after it was switched on) the system can tolerate the loss
of signal for 14 days before it becomes unsynchronised.
12
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Configuring the Server
Once the hardware has been installed, follow these steps to configure the server for use:
•Install the Windows configuration program
•Configure the network
•Configure the NTP options
Note: The time displayed is UTC. It may not match your wall clock depending on what time
zone you are in and whether daylight savings/summer time is in effect. This does not affect
whether the correct time is shown on client PCs. Clients use the time in UTC from the server
plus information about their local time zone to calculate the correct local time.
Note: The time displayed is accurate to the nearest second, updated once a second. This
means that the display may appear to be up to a ½ second off from other time sources. The
display does not reflect the underlying system’s ability to provide the correct time to millisecond
accuracy.
13
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Install Windows based Configuration program
Now you need to install and run the Windows based configuration program to set up the
network connection, you will then be able to configure NTP clients to use the NTS-4000. Run
the setup program (called ConfigVxx.exe where xx is the version number) on a suitable
Windows PC - all recent versions of Windows are supported.
.
`
Press Next
Press Next
14
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Select where you would like the program installed
Select the program group
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Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Press Install
Press Finish and the configuration program will be started, it will immediately search the
network for NTS-4000 Devices.
16
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Note: You may get a warning from your PC if you have a firewall enabled. e.g.
The Configuration program must be unblocked to allow it to work correctly.
All the NTS-4000 Devices found are shown along with their current IP address (if any),
hardware MAC address and software version number.
Select the device you are configuring then press ‘Configuration’.
17
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Network Configuration
The first configuration step is to set up the network so other devices can use the NTS-4000.
The display always shows the currently active IP address for the network connection.

Hint: The NTS-4000 must be configured with a valid IP address before the NTP options can be
set.
First, determine whether you are going to use DHCP (automatic network configuration) or a
static address.
DHCP is short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a protocol for assigning dynamic IP
addresses to devices on a network. With dynamic addressing, a device can have a different IP
address every time it connects to the network.
To switch DHCP on to determine network settings automatically
•Select ‘change Ethernet setting’
•Select IP Mode ‘DHCP’
This is the easiest way to set up the server initially; however, it is recommended that a static
address be assigned to the server, if possible, to fix the address permanently. With
automatically assigned addresses using DHCP it is possible that the address could change,
possibly requiring client reconfiguration.
18
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
To assign static settings to the network first determine the following:
•Gateway
•Subnet mask
•IP address the server should use
These should be available from your network administrator.
To switch DHCP off
•Select ‘change Ethernet setting’
•Select IP Mode ‘Static IP’
The Gateway, Subnet mask and IP address should be replaced by values for your network.
Hint: Once the NTS-4000 is correctly configured, the Windows Configuration program is no
longer required for normal operation.
19
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Time Server Configuration Options
To set the timeserver options for the NTS-4000, select the device as before, then press
‘Options’. The current status is shown along with the options to send broadcasts and/or syslog
messages.
Broadcasts are a way of sending a single timestamp to many computers at the same time.
Multicasts are similar but may span more than one subnet if the network is set to do so. If the
value of the broadcast frequency is set to 0, none are sent.
The K9 client uses broadcasts so broadcasts should be switched on when it is used.
Broadcasts cover the local subnet but go no further. Up to 10 broadcast addresses may be set.
Press the default broadcast and/or default multicast buttons to set the most commonly used
addresses.
Other subnets may be sent broadcasts (called directed broadcasts). Eg: one could send a
broadcast to subnet 192.168.10.x using an address of 192.168.10.255.
The syslog server is where system status messages are sent using the syslog protocol.
If this is set to 0.0.0.0 no syslog messages are ever sent.
20
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Search
The ‘search’ options are used to find NTS-4000 Devices on the network.
Broadcast Search
Broadcast search sends a message to all devices on the local subnet. Any that reply are listed.
This is done by default when the configuration program starts.
Search by IP
If you know the address of the NTS-4000 you can search for it directly using this option. It
allows access to NTS-4000 Devices beyond the local subnet.
Debug
Selecting debug will start a telnet session with the NTS-4000 Showing information that may be
useful to engineers to resolve problems.
21
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Upgrade Firmware
Upgrade allows the NTS-4000 Software to be upgraded to add new features and/or fix
problems.
Select the device to be upgraded and press the upgrade button or select Upgrade->firmware.
Now select the new firmware file supplied by Galleon Systems and press ‘Open’. After
approximately 1 minute, the following message should be displayed:
The NTS-4000 should restart automatically.
Client Configuration
The following clients are supported. Others clients that use SNTP or NTP should work too.
Timesync
Add a server of type SNTP/NTP
Enter the address of the NTS-4000.
22
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
K9
For K9 to set the time the NTS-4000 must be set to send broadcasts. This is off by default. On
the option page, select a non-zero broadcast frequency.
Windows XP
Windows XP may be configured to use an NTP time source such as the NTS-4000. In the Date
and Time control panel select the ‘Internet Time’ tab and enter the NTS-4000 as the server.
Linux/Unix
Place an entry in the Linux/Unix machine’s ntp.conf file for the NTS-4000. Eg server
192.168.0.230 Where the IP address should be that of the NTS-4000. This assumes that NTP
is already set up on the machine.
23
Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk
Time Server Fundamentals
The NTS-4000 provides a network-based timeserver using the NTP protocol - it may be
assigned fixed or dynamic network addresses using DHCP.
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronise the time of a computer client or server
to another server or reference time source - such as a radio or GPS satellite receiver. It
provides accuracies typically within a few milliseconds on LANs and up to a few tens of
milliseconds on WANs relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
GPS is a system of satellites, computers, and receivers that is able to determine the Latitude
and longitude of a receiver on Earth by calculating the time difference of signals from different
satellites to reach the receiver. These signals are generated by an atomic clock and are used
by a GPS timeserver to receive the time.
UTC (Universal Time Coordinated or Temps Universel Coordonné) is an official standard for the
current time. UTC evolved from the former GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), GMT had been
adopted as the world's standard time but one of the reasons it has been replaced as official
standard time was the fact that it was based on the mean solar time. Newer methods of time
measurement showed that the mean solar time varied a lot by itself as the Earth’s rotation is
varied. The following list will explain the main components of UTC:
•Universal means that the time can be used everywhere in the world, meaning that it is
independent from time zones (i.e. it is not local time). To convert UTC to local time, one
would have to add or subtract the local time zone.
.
•Coordinated means that several institutions contribute their estimate of the current time,
and UTC is built by combining these estimates - all contributions to UTC are made by
atomic clocks.
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Galleon Systems Ltd
Unit 9 Fortnum Close, Kitts Green, Birmingham B33 0LG
http://www.galsys.co.uk