The Evolution of Time

In the last set of newsletters we outlined the broad history of quantum and space. Xairos sits at the threshold of quantum, space, and time. So it is time (pun intended) to give our brief history of time - specifically the relationship between progress, and our ability to measure, and deliver, time.

Agriculture and Commerce

Mankind has carefully tracked the seasons since the earliest civilizations to help regulate agriculture and all aspects to life. Early rudimentary clocks were crafted to develop some semblance of commerce, and towns would erect clocks to help merchants and shoppers connect.For the most part, they didn't need their own super-accurate clocks; a rough idea of the time within a few minutes was sufficient. Large clocks in the town square were relatively easy to maintain, by referencing the positions of celestial bodies. However, the growing need for advanced navigation, commerce, and transportation created a demand for compact and transportable clocks.

Transportation and the Industrial Revolution

The longitude problem led to the development of the Marine Chronometer, the Greenwich Observatory (the standard for today's UTC), and the world's first global synchronization network, which some regard as the catalyst for the rise of the British Empire. This was initially done in the mid-1800s by dropping balls at harbors around the world at predetermined times, for captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers (which was also the original inspiration for the Time's Square Ball Drop tradition on New Year's Eve).Clocks were miniaturized further into pocket watches for keeping train schedules, and electronic synchronization evolved with the rise of the telegraph to keep trains and financial transactions moving. In the 20th century, clocks evolved from mechanical movements to crystal oscillators, and finally to atomic clocks, greatly improving our ability to measure time accurately in support of military and science missions.In all cases, our ability to measure time accurately was driven by our need for navigation, commerce, and transportation. But another user emerged in the 21st century.

The Digital Era

Humans are no longer the primary consumers of time; it is now the critical resource for electronics and networks. Time is necessary for time stamping financial transactions; efficient routing of high-speed data through networks (similar to timed lights on a busy road); reducing the read-write data buffer for more efficient distributed databases; tying together data from multiple sensors and radar; better position resolution; aligning phase measurement units in power grids; and ensuring that AI processors "sync to de-sync" power spikes.All of these applications need time parsed to billionths of a second, a ridiculously imperceptible metric for people, but an eternity for our modern digital electronics. And they don't care about absolute time; they need relative time. And the common time reference comes predominantly from one source: GPS. In a textbook example of the opportune timing of Kairos, GPS came along just as our world developed these networks, providing a convenient - but reluctant - time reference for the world.Time, and the next-generation applications it enables, needs to evolve further, which involves advances in quantum technology. Find out what you can do with a nanosecond — (one billionth of a second). (see "The More You Know" below)

Last Newsletter Theme: The Evolution of Space

🎓 The More You Know...

What can you do with a nanosecond - one billionth of a second?Modern atomic clocks can maintain accuracy of a nanosecond over the course of a day, but even if you have super accurate clocks in a network, they need to be synchronized to each other. And to achieve this, they use GPS - but GPS is only accurate to roughly 30 nanoseconds (and that is with very expensive equipment).If this accuracy could be improved to nanosecond-level precision (say, with new quantum technologies), then new applications could be unlocked that don't exist today:

• Quantum networks require sub-nanosecond timing precision for quantum teleportation. 

• Future 6G networks demand better accuracy to improve spectral efficiency (squeezing more data out of existing bandwidth) as well as reducing network latency.

• Data centers need better synchronization to reduce the effort to work with distributed databases, which improves efficiency and reduces power consumption and emissions. 

• Precision timing for financial networks reduces latency for high-frequency traders.

• Distributed sensors and radars need to be synchronized so they can mesh their data together to create more information from multiple sources. 

• Data fusion is also important for industrial robotics, which rely on data from a lot of sources for high-tech factories.

A lot can happen in one billionth of a second - but new quantum technologies are necessary to get there.