Precision Timestamping
A disciplined precision-time protocol gives every channel a common, sub-sample-accurate clock, without which multi-channel physics inference is meaningless.
One clock for the constellation
Equilibrium reconstruction, mode analysis, and sensor fusion are all multi-channel inferences. They are valid only if every channel's samples share a common time reference to better than a sample. Precision timestamping distributes a disciplined clock — a precision time protocol synchronizing all digitizers — so cross-channel phase is exact.
Why sub-sample matters
- Mirnov mode analysis is pure phase inference: a fraction-of-a-sample skew fakes a mode.
- Fused density from Thomson and interferometry must align in time to cross-check.
- The twin's predictive shadow, running 50-100 ms ahead, needs a coherent state snapshot.
- Pulsed diagnostics (Thomson) must be placed exactly relative to continuous ones.
Discipline and holdover
The protocol continuously disciplines each digitizer's local oscillator to the master, correcting drift. If the master reference is lost, digitizers hold over on their disciplined oscillators for a bounded time, and the fabric flags the reduced timing confidence in the data-quality score rather than pretending nothing changed.
Coupling to the control boundary
Precise time is also what lets the fabric hand a coherent, well-stamped state to L1 at the sub-10 microsecond boundary, and what makes the synchronized gates and the audit trail meaningful — an event's time is trustworthy. Timestamping applies identically to the breeder and the burner and is a design specification for machines whose FOAK is expected near 2030.