u-blox brings national time standards directly into its GNSS test lab
Thalwil, Switzerland / Bern-Wabern, Switzerland, September 03, 2026 – u-blox, a global leader in positioning and short-range communication technologies for automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, the Federal Institute of Metrology METAS, responsible for the dissemination of the Swiss official time, and Switch, operator of Switzerland’s national research and education network, today announced the integration of Switzerland’s UTC-traceable timing infrastructure into the u-blox GNSS test laboratory in Thalwil.
Through this collaboration, u-blox gains continuous access to a UTC-traceable reference via an unbroken and documented chain of calibrations, ensuring full measurement traceability. METAS realizes, maintains, and disseminates UTC(CH), Switzerland’s contribution to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), while Switch provides the fiber-optic network over which the timing signal is disseminated using White Rabbit technology. This service delivers nanosecond-level time synchronization directly within the u-blox laboratory, accelerating the validation of GNSS timing receivers and strengthening the development of next-generation timing products.
For GNSS timing technologies, performance fundamentally depends on precise synchronization, timing stability, and validation against trusted UTC references. By integrating the METAS time dissemination service directly into its laboratory infrastructure, u-blox can rapidly validate new hardware and software releases for GNSS timing receivers in-house, without requiring repeated access to external metrology facilities.
The infrastructure also enables long-term timing stability measurements over extended periods ranging from weeks to months against a stable UTC-traceable reference source, strengthening the development and validation workflow for next-generation GNSS timing products.
“High-performance GNSS timing products depend on rigorous and traceable timing validation throughout the development cycle,”
said Samuli Pietilä, Director of Product Line Management, Timing and Infrastructure at
u-blox.
“This infrastructure allows us to validate and continuously improve GNSS timing receiver performance directly in our own laboratory against a UTC-traceable reference.”
White Rabbit is an Ethernet-based synchronization technology originally developed at CERN for large-scale scientific infrastructure requiring ultra-precise timing accuracy. The technology enables sub-nanosecond synchronization over fiber-optic networks and is increasingly being adopted in advanced industrial and scientific environments.
METAS operates Switzerland’s national time standards and provides traceable time dissemination services supporting research, infrastructure, and industrial innovation.
“We are pleased to support u-blox with our time dissemination service,”
said Jacques Morel, Head of the Laboratory Photonics, Time and Frequency at METAS.
“This collaboration demonstrates how national metrology infrastructure can support advanced industrial applications requiring highly accurate synchronization, timing precision, and traceable validation against UTC references.”
The collaboration also highlights the strength of Switzerland’s precision technology ecosystem, bringing together national metrology expertise, optical timing infrastructure, and advanced GNSS timing technologies.
The timing infrastructure is now operational in the u-blox GNSS laboratory and will support ongoing development and validation activities for GNSS timing products.
u-blox is a global leader in automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, driving innovation through our cutting-edge positioning and short-range communication technologies. We are the pioneers behind high-precision technologies, providing smart and reliable solutions that enable people, vehicles, and machines to determine their precise position and communicate wirelessly. With headquarters in Thalwil, Switzerland, and offices across Europe, Asia, and the USA, we are making a global impact.
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(www.u-blox.com)
u‑blox media contact:
Sven Etzold
Senior Director Business Marketing
Mobile +sven.etzold@u-blox.com41 76 561 0066
sven.etzold@u-blox.com
The Federal Institute of Metrology METAS serves as the federal centre of competence for all issues related to measurement and for measuring equipment and measuring procedures.
It is the Swiss national metrology institute. As such, its mandate is to ensure the availability in Switzerland of measurement and testing facilities with the degree of accuracy needed to meet the requirements of the economy, research and administration.
Switch is the digitalisation partner for Swiss universities. The foundation collaborates with educational and research institutions to develop secure and future-oriented digital platforms and critical infrastructure. Its activities are focused on strengthening cyber security, the universal use of digital identities and sovereign cloud solutions. Switch has also operated and protected domain names ending in .ch and .li since the early days of the Internet. The non-profit foundation employs around 180 people in Zurich and Lausanne.
Courtesy of u-blox
