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NIST Internet Time Service

Metadata Updated: July 29, 2022

Distributes NIST estimate of official U.S. time over the Internet in real time, using Network Time Protocol (NTP) and other time data formats to automatically synchronize clocks in computers and network devices to official U.S. time as realized by NIST several billions of times per day. This official U.S. time is the NIST estimate of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and called UTC(NIST). The accuracy of UTC(NIST) as distributed through the Internet Time Service (ITS) is on the order of 0.001 seconds (one millisecond), although accuracy can vary depending on network conditions and other parameters. Note that unlike most traditional datasets, time is intrinsically a transient, ever-changing quantity. As soon as UTC(NIST) is transmitted to a client, that particular value of UTC(NIST) no longer reflects the current time, which is constantly changing. There is thus no static storage of any time data, apart from internal diagnostic information not released to the public which ensures that UTC(NIST) as disseminated through the Internet Time Service (ITS) is commensurate with the official UTC(NIST) realization within the uncertainties of the system. The vast majority of UTC(NIST) information distributed through ITS is provided freely, anonymously and automatically to the public. Any IP address can request UTC(NIST) through the ITS and the information is automatically and anonymously provided at no cost to the user. Full documentation of the ITS including all the source code is available to the public through the web site http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/.NIST provides an authenticated version of ITS to a limited number of users (approximately 500 users near the end of calendar year 2015) who for various reasons want to ensure they are receiving UTC(NIST) without spoofing or interference with the information. This service uses public key encryption for the set of registered users to provide authenticated UTC(NIST).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

Downloads & Resources

References

https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/services/internet-time-service-its

Dates

Metadata Created Date March 11, 2021
Metadata Updated Date July 29, 2022
Data Update Frequency R/PT1S

Metadata Source

Harvested from NIST

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date March 11, 2021
Metadata Updated Date July 29, 2022
Publisher National Institute of Standards and Technology
Maintainer
Identifier 25C39B1D2C1549AFE0531A5706812CBC1445
Language en
Data Last Modified 2015-11-30 00:00:00
Category Physics:Time and frequency
Public Access Level public
Data Update Frequency R/PT1S
Bureau Code 006:55
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Data Dictionary https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/services/internet-time-service-its
Data Dictionary Type text/plain
Harvest Object Id 6fa8e9b9-3ad1-4e17-a495-8f46f4eaaa1e
Harvest Source Id 74e175d9-66b3-4323-ac98-e2a90eeb93c0
Harvest Source Title NIST
Homepage URL https://data.nist.gov/od/id/25C39B1D2C1549AFE0531A5706812CBC1445
License https://www.nist.gov/open/license
Program Code 006:045
Related Documents https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/services/internet-time-service-its
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash faf45ada468f4083a0e6f46bda6211dc0a559021
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial Applicable across the world.

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