OBSERVATION CHAMBER / ACTIVE

Distributed Clock Network

Place local clocks on a network and observe delay, drift, offset, and temporary agreement emerge between them.

time / synchronization Observation Model

TIME / SYNCHRONIZATION

A network of clocks, one changing relation

Start the network, then watch local model drift and delayed messages reshape the shared phase.

PLAYBACK READY

DYNAMICS DRIFTING

TOPOLOGY CONNECTED

The nodes are model clocks. Lines show recent messages. Focus the canvas and use the Arrow keys to select a node; the drawing does not represent a real network.

Network ready. Choose a preset or start the model.

R / phase alignment: --
Phase spread: --°
Components: --
Edge freshness: -- ms
Message age: -- ms
Phase speed: -- rad/s
Delivered / dropped: 0 / 0
Recovery: -- s

NETWORK CONTROLS

Change the timing relation

READY

PRESET

BASELINE

TOPOLOGY

CONNECTED

MODEL PARAMETERS

Model drift 1.8% Message latency 80 ms Timing jitter 20 ms Coupling K 0.35

Model drift is bounded from 0–3% in this simulation. Jitter is absolute timing jitter in milliseconds.

KEYBOARD

Space/P start or pause continuous motion (disabled with reduced motion) · S manual step · R reset · C correction · X partition · focus the canvas, then use Arrow to select a node

TRANSITION LOG

00:00

The network is ready for observation.

OBSERVATION CONTRACT

Shared phase, not clock synchronization

Each node keeps a local phase, and delayed messages change the modeled corrections between nodes. This is a phase-coupling visualization, not an implementation of NTP or a measure of real clock accuracy, human ability, or network performance.

WHAT TO WATCH

Alignment can break and recover

Watch R rise when phases gather and fall when model drift or jitter separates them.
Raise latency or jitter to age the edges and make message timing visible.
Toggle a partition to split components, then apply a correction and observe recovery.

MODEL NOTE

Delayed phase coupling

θᵢ(t+Δt) = θᵢ(t) + ωᵢΔt + K Σⱼ wᵢⱼ sin(θⱼ(t−τᵢⱼ) − θᵢ(t))

R = |(1/N) Σᵢ exp(iθᵢ)|. Time t is simulated seconds, phase θ is radians modulo 2π, latency τ is simulated milliseconds, and model drift is a bounded 0–3% parameter. It is not real clock accuracy.

OBSERVATION POLICY

This lab runs in your browser as a visual model. Clock states, network settings, calculations, reports, and images are not uploaded. It uses no external data, camera, or microphone, performs no real operational time synchronization, and does not measure psychology, ability, or rankings.

Route

This chamber belongs to Signals & Networks.

SIGNAL Back to Signals & Networks Route.