Time Reversal Enabled Fiber-Optic Time Synchronization

Abstract: Over the past few decades, fiber-optic time synchronization (FOTS) has provided fundamental support for the efficient operation of modern society. Looking toward the future beyond fifth-generation/sixth-generation (B5G/6G) scenarios and very large radio telescope arrays, developing high-precision, low-complexity and scalable FOTS technology is crucial for building a large-scale time synchronization network. However, the traditional two-way FOTS method needs a data layer to exchange time delay information. This increases the complexity of system and makes it impossible to realize multiple-access time synchronization. In this paper, a time reversal enabled FOTS method is proposed. It measures the clock difference between two locations without involving a data layer, which can reduce the complexity of the system. Moreover, it can also achieve multiple-access time synchronization along the fiber link. Tests over a 230 km fiber link have been carried out to demonstrate the high performance of the proposed method.