From Virtual Clock Discipline to Physical Synchronization: White Rabbit Lessons for PToB and Future Tunable Targets

Overview

The study compares PToB’s virtual clock discipline with the demands of physical synchronization. It examines calibration gaps and a White Rabbit-inspired path toward tunable oscillators and physical clock control on future hardware targets.

What this paper covers

• How a disciplined software time map differs from controlling a physical oscillator.
• Why calibration and the chosen measurement point matter to synchronization claims.
• What future tunable targets would need beyond the current implementation.

Research scope

This is a comparison and future-hardware roadmap. It does not establish White Rabbit equivalence, calibrated absolute UTC or physical-output accuracy for existing PToB devices. A software-clock statistic must retain its own reference.

Read it in context

Read this when deciding whether an application needs timestamps, a shared software time base or a physical clock output. The present hardware guide and dated evidence describe current capabilities; the roadmap does not qualify future hardware.