It is not only for test and measurement of great importance to synchronize clocks of networked devices to timely coordinate data\r\nacquisition. In this context the seek for high accuracy in Ethernet-based clock synchronization has been significantly supported\r\nby enhancements to the Network Time Protocol (NTP) and the introduction of the Precision Time Protocol (PTP). The latter\r\nwas even applied to instrumentation and measurement applications through the introduction of LXI. These protocols are usually\r\nimplemented in software; however, the synchronization accuracy can only substantially be improved by hardware which supports\r\ndrawing of precise event timestamps. Especially, the quality of the timestamps for ingress and egress synchronization packets has a\r\nmajor influence on the achievable performance of a distributed measurement or control system. This paper analyzes the influence\r\nof jitter sources remaining despite hardware support and proposes enhanced methods for up to now unmatched timestamping\r\naccuracy in Ethernet-based synchronization protocols. The methods shown in this paper reach sub-nanosecond accuracy, which\r\nis proven in theory and practice.
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