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Why Do Your Phones and Laptops Show the Same Time? The Answer Lies in a Delhi Lab
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What Happened?
Every day, devices across India synchronize their clocks to a standard time set by atomic clocks at the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi. This ensures that phones, laptops, and other systems display the same time.
Key points
- Indian Standard Time (IST) is UTC plus 5 hours and 30 minutes.
- The CSIR National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi is responsible for maintaining IST.
- NPL uses hydrogen masers and caesium clocks to ensure accurate timekeeping.
- India's time has remained within plus or minus three nanoseconds of world time for about five years.
- Phones typically sync time from mobile networks, while laptops use the Network Time Protocol (NTP).
- New rules require critical sectors to synchronize their systems to IST.
Key insights
- Accurate timekeeping is essential for preventing errors in transactions and operations.
- The synchronization of time across devices helps maintain consistency in critical services.
- The new regulations may enhance the reliability of time-dependent systems in India.
Why it matters
Understanding how time synchronization works is crucial for various sectors, including banking and transportation.
Tags
Entities
CSIR National Physical Laboratory· OrganizationIndian Standard Time· EventNew Delhi· City
Source
India Today
