PIV Gateway™ Chronos

What is PIV Gateway™ Chronos?

PIV Gateway™ Chronos is a highly available and accurate NTP time server that provides highly accurate time synchronisation even under GNSS spoofing and jamming attacks.

Features

Spoofing detection

Adopts the MICHIBIKI (QZSS) signal certification of the Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System.

High-precision time keeping

Equipped with a rubidium oscillator or OCXO (high-precision crystal oscillator).

Redundancy enhancement

Supports multiple time sources, including multi-GNSS and Hikari telephone JJY ^(*1).
^(*1)About Hikari Telephone JJY

Cost efficiency and practicality

By utilizing existing CPU boards and TPMs designed for industrial systems, the system offers both durability and security, while achieving significant cost savings compared to conventional dedicated systems. In addition, the e-ink display makes it possible to display information and highly visible guidance even in the event of power loss.

Audit compliance and trail management

The unlock request record can be digitally signed and used as a tamper-proof log to meet the requirements of security audits or legal compliance.

Why do we need accurate time synchronisation?

In recent years, the network environment of critical infrastructures is not directly connected to the Internet in many cases for security reasons, and the main method of time synchronisation is via GNSS.

In such environments, accurate time acquisition by GNSS plays an important role, as the connection to external networks is restricted. However, in recent years, numerous attacks on GNSS through spoofing^(*2) and jamming^(*3) have been observed.

^(*2)Spoofing : Attacks that send false GNSS signals to disguise correct position and time information.
^(*3)Jamming : Attacks that jam GNSS signals, preventing them from being received.

Risks posed by inaccuracies in time synchronisation

If an attack is successful and the system receives incorrect time information, the following risks may occur.

1. Inconsistent time synchronisation between systems
   • Poor data integrity within distributed systems and networks
   • Confusion in the order and causality of transactions
2. Errors in time-based calculation results
   • Errors in the calculation of speed, distance, position, etc.
   • Inaccuracies in navigation systems and location-based services
3. Unreliability of logs and time stamps
   • Difficulties in identifying the exact sequence of events and time of occurrence
   • Loss of value in security audits and as legal evidence
4. Malfunctioning of time-limited processes
   • Improper handling of session timeouts
   • Erroneous execution or non-execution of scheduled tasks
5. Poor performance of wireless communication systems
   • Increased interference and reduced quality due to deviations in communication timing
   • Decrease in data transfer rate due to poor frequency utilisation efficiency

Signal authentication technology capable of detecting spoofing, time synchronisation by multiple time sources independent of GNSS, and building robust time synchronisation systems are more important than ever.
PIV Gateway™ Chronos addresses these challenges, providing a solution that increases the safety and reliability of critical infrastructure and helps ensure the performance and reliability of the entire system.

Product specification

Enclosure	19-inch rack 2U
Power supply	100-240 V AC

A separate multi-band GNSS antenna is required.

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