The Ubisense Timing Distribution Unit is a 2U rack-mountable device that provides timing synchronisation support for up to 21 Ubisense sensors in a Ubisense sensor network. It reduces the number of long cable runs required for a sensor installation by combining the network and timing signals needed by each sensor onto one Cat5e or better shielded (STP/FTP) cable.

DescriptionThe front panel of Ubisense Timing Distribution Unit presents the following ports:

• 21 ports to be connected to a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch.
   
• 21 ports to be connected to sensors. Power and networking are passed onto these ports from the PoE switch, and the Timing Distribution Unit injects an additional timing signal used by Ubisense sensors onto unused cable pairs. 20 ports are output -only, one port can be configured as an input or an output.
   
• One Ethernet port which allows the Timing Distribution Unit to be booted and managed over the network.

At the rear of the unit is a power input socket and also a label that displays the MAC address of the unit.

A status LED on the front panel indicates the current operating state of the Timing Distribution Unit.

Typical configurationA PoE network switch is connected to the Timing Distribution Unit in the machine room with Cat5e cables, and power and networking is forwarded to the sensors from the PoE switch via the Timing Distribution Unit.

The timing source in the network sends its timing signals into the input sensor-side port on the Timing Distribution Unit, which then distributes this timing signal by sending it to other sensors on unused signal pairs of the (single) shielded Cat5e cable connected to each sensor.

Simple integrationThe Timing Distribution Unit is easily integrated with the Ubisense Location Platform software and is automatically detected when connected into a sensor network.