time & crypto

brian carroll electromagnetize@gmail.com
Tue Feb 10 20:27:03 PST 2015


previous post wondered about what atomic clocks everywhere might be
useful for, in particular crypto. the following article has more
information on how mapping gravity via time differences via
highest-precision timekeeping relates to unlocking mysteries of the
earth's interior... (thus geological, geophysical) [0]

one aspect that has me puzzled about timing is the claim by Apple that
the Apple Watch is "One of the most accurate watches ever" while also
noting its accuracy is 50 microseconds, and likely has its timing
signal indirectly routed through the iPhone thus delayed prior to
setting the internal clock. interesting article on this issue [1],
with a backgrounder on existing timing technologies available today.
in particular, information about Apple's time servers that are linked
to UTC at nanosecond accuracy, and also that the clocks or timing
circuits inside smartphones and tablets are _not as accurate as i
imagined, also losing seconds a day (in this way somewhat like a
mechanical watch for precision).

the thing about the Apple Watch claim of timing accuracy, which the
article makes clear, is that a GPS watch that gets its signal from
orbiting satellites (via whatever speed-of-light & atmospheric
signaling delay) is receiving a time signal that is accurate in the
realm of nanoseconds from the universal standard, via several
synchronized atomic clocks onboard the GPS satellites. so apparently
that accurate timing signal has to transverse space and time to get to
another distant location, and it is unknown if at its destination it
has this accuracy or only when the signal is sent. the latter may be
possible with additional calculations based on various parameters of
GPS, thus the stated 50ns accuracy could be presumed that of a GPS
watch if not iPhone GPS time signal.

and yet with the tethering of the Apple Watch to the iPhone to
maintain its timekeeping, somehow this 50 nanosecond accuracy drops to
50 microseconds, which the observer noted is "a million times worse
than...the accuracy delivered by GPS." [1] because of this it is
puzzling how the claim of ~extreme accuracy can be made by Apple when
an iPhone has presumably better timing resolution due to design
decisions, than a device categorized as a watch as if in the same
lineage as precision chronometers that defined engineering excellence
and feats of microengineering, which also /appear/ as watchfaces on
the system-on-a-chip device, and yet that same adherence to accuracy
is seemingly not occurring even while still being claimed.

to give a sense of the issue, via proportion, a short video of Grace
Hopper provides a way of considering this situation by measuring  the
maximum distance electricity travels in space in a nanosecond and
microsecond. [2] this then allows hypothetical comparison between a
GPS timing signal sent directly to a smartwatch (50ns*11.8inches =
49.1667 feet) to that GSP or other time signal relayed to the Apple
Watch via tethered iPhone and its circuitry (50ms*984feet = 49,200
feet). in other words, length corresponds with accuracy to a universal
time standard and a GPS watch is potentially '49 feet accurate' while
the tethered Apple Watch seems to be '49,200 feet accurate' and saying
this is precise in a horological context of timekeeping and precision
timepieces.

it just seemed so backwards to me because if there was onboard GPS on
the Apple Watch then it would have precision that other devices also
have, and the claim of precision would be self-evident, instead of
potentially being marketing-speak to sell computer-devices via the
pretext of its being a watch, etc. so a boundary or threshold appears
to have been crossed or priorities may be different than expected in
this way. an onboard radio antenna would also provide higher
resolution, though perhaps the timing chip inside the SoC watch is not
built around highest precision as may otherwise be assumed. hopefully
in the future it will be.

the issue that seems relevant in the lag or delay is that there is
that much more room for things to happen in terms of unaccounted for
delays outside the parameters of hours:minutes:seconds, if
milliseconds is some threshold, and then events are occurring in a
realm of microseconds or even potentially nanoseconds, and how crypto
could be operating or calculating in those dimensions and dynamics
otherwise unseen or unobservable, such as 2+2=4 if looked at one way,
and 2+2=5 if viewed outside those boundaries. [3]

note: i specifically wrote about the above issue as part of a larger
Apple Watch analysis, [4] and these recent articles provided more to
consider about what may be involved. [4]

--
0. Cryogenic clocks pave the way to new measurements
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-centimeter-cryogenic-clocks-pave.html

[quote] According to Katori, "It was a great feeling to have shown
this excellent agreement between the clocks. If we can miniaturize
this technology further, it would have useful applications, since tiny
fluctuations in gravitational potential could be used to detect
underground resources, underground spaces, and the movement of lava.
We also hope that in the future, this will accelerate the movement
toward a new definition of the international second, based on optical
lattice clocks, to an even more stringent standard than the current
definition of the second, which is based on cesium oscillation."
[/unquote]

1. How Apple Watch achieves its timekeeping accuracy
http://watch.camp/2014/11/apple-watch-timekeeping-accuracy/

2. Grace Hopper - Nanoseconds / Microseconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8

3. [2].5 + [2].5 = [5]

4. AWO: critique of Apple Watch concept…
https://appleobservations.wordpress.com/index/5-2/




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