June 21, 2012 -- eCosCentric added NTP (Network Time Protocol) support for eCosPro. The implementation provides an NTP client, compatible with NTP Version 3 servers, as well as a high precision advanced clock management package to provide unified time services to all eCos libraries and user applications.
The NTP support allows systems based on eCosPro to be synchronised with one or more industry standard time servers, on private networks or via the public internet. Additionally, high precision 64-bit time-stamping can be applied to time sensitive data. Already being applied in transportation systems based on eCosPro, these services will benefit applications in scientific, engineering and communication fields. As embedded systems based on eCosPro may be deployed in the field for many years, the implementation has been designed and fully tested to safely handle the cases of UNIX (32-bit) clock overflow in the years 2038 and 2106, and account for NTP rollover in 2036 and 2172.
The NTP client also includes provision for leap seconds. eCosCentric's engineers have been able to signifcantly reduce code duplication within eCosPro through the unified clock management package, eliminating similarly implemented clock conversion functions. The C library time functions and POSIX layer clock and timer functions now make direct use of these new services. The NTP support and clock management services have been qualified across all architectures supported by eCosCentric, and are available as enhanced eCos features provided by eCosCentric in an eCosPro Developer's Kit. The NTP client requires 20 kilobytes of codespace and typically needs 17-23 kilobytes of RAM to operate on a CISC based target.