Subject: [Ntp] [Technical Errata Reported] RFC5905 (5604)

From: RFC Errata System <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:25:58 -0800 (PST)

The following errata report has been submitted for RFC5905,
"Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification".

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You may review the report below and at:
http://www.rfc-editor.org/errata/eid5604

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Type: Technical
Reported by: Takashi Nakamoto <[email-masked]>

Section: 11.2.3.

Original Text
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                  | s.rootdisp  <-- p.epsilon_r + p.epsilon + |
                  |                 p.psi + PHI * (s.t - p.t) |
                  |                 + |THETA|                 |

Corrected Text
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                  | s.rootdisp  <-- p.epsilon_r + p.epsilon   |
                  |                 + 5 * p.psi +             |
                  |                 + PHI * (s.t - p.t)       |
                  |                 + |THETA|                 |

Notes
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In addition to the correction proposed in Errata ID 5601, I think that the formula to calculate the dispersion should be revised. The term "p.psi" should be multiplied by not one, but a larger value.

This is because the dispersion is defined as the statistics that represent the maximum error, so when it is calculated, it should take into account the maximum errors in the offset estimation. However, the jitter p.psi is defined as the RMS average of the offset values theta_j relative to theta_0, so the term "p.psi" does not represent the maximum error caused by the distribution of the offset values.

If we assume that the offset value follows the uniform distribution, the error bound is represented as sqrt(3) * p.psi. So, at least, the term "p.psi" should be multiplied by sqrt(3). There is arbitrarity in choice of the distribution type, so depending on the distribution type the factor may change. For example, if the normal distribution is assumed, 5 * p.psi gives us 99.99994% confidence. Assuming that the system variable is updated every 16 seconds, the actual offset may be outside the range [theta_0 - 5 * p.psi, theta_0 + 5 * p.psi] approximately once a year. It should be sufficient for usual Internet applications, though someone may think that the factor "5" may not be sufficient depending on the application.

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RFC5905 (draft-ietf-ntp-ntpv4-proto-13)
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Title               : Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification
Publication Date    : June 2010
Author(s)           : D. Mills, J. Martin, Ed., J. Burbank, W. Kasch
Category            : PROPOSED STANDARD
Source              : Network Time Protocol
Area                : Internet
Stream              : IETF
Verifying Party     : IESG