In the financial sector, stock exchanges are required to have extremely accurate timing signals in order to meet the timestamp requirements that regulators use to ensure proper accounting of trades. To achieve this, GPS/GNSS RF signals are fed to network timing servers where these signals are then utilized for accurate timing synchronization.

One of the world’s leading stock exchanges – operating across multiple global locations including the USA, UK and Asia – was seeking to install additional GPS/GNSS links in both its Hong Kong and Singapore facilities. On this occasion, needing RF over fiber transmission to replace coaxial cable and overcome the large signal loss from the long distance between the antenna location and the data center.

ViaLite was awarded the contract to supply outdoor-based fiber transmission systems, including its leading edge performance GPS/GNSS fiber links. The Tx fiber optic links were housed in the new miniature IP-65 weatherproof ODE-MINI for the rooftop section of the system, which then optically transmitted the GPS/GNSS signals to the Rx fiber optic links located in an indoor 1U rack chassis. The ODE-MINI is the smallest and most capable outdoor enclosure available in the market today, offering plug and play rapid deployment, and comes with a flexible range of frequency applications and performance options, such as dual redundant power supplies and SNMP for monitoring and control.

ViaLite’s equipment was specifically chosen, for the multiple locations, not only for the state-of-the-art outdoor enclosure, but also thanks to implementation of the unique 1U chassis that incorporated an embedded GPS splitter, supplying 8 to 16 GPS connections from a single RF over fiber port. This eliminated the need for an external GPS splitter. The products were chosen for being best in class, having integrated functions and small form factors.

Craig Somach, ViaLite’s Director of Sales, said: “We are very excited and honored to continue our multiple year partnership with one of the largest financial institutions in the world. ViaLite’s leading edge GPS system was chosen to deploy the required transmission speed and signal strength – all in a very compact design – while offering best in class service and reliability for mission-critical level financial transactions.”

If you would like more information on RF over fiber and distributed GPS systems, contact STEP Electronics today.