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| Today, synchronisation can occur on a global basis due to GPS-enabled timekeeping systems. | | Today, synchronisation can occur on a global basis due to GPS-enabled timekeeping systems. |
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− | ==Transport==
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− | Apart from its use for [[navigation]] (see John Harrison), synchronization was not important in transportation until the nineteenth century, when the coming of the railways made travel fast enough for the [[difference]]s in local time between adjacent towns to be noticeable (see [1]).
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− | In some territories, sharing of single railroad tracks was controlled by the timetable. Thus strict timekeeping was a safety requirement. To this day, railroads can [[communicate]] and signal along their tracks, independently of other systems for safety.
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| ==Definition== | | ==Definition== |
| *1. a. intr. To occur at the same [[time]]; to coincide in point of time; to be contemporary or simultaneous. Const. with. | | *1. a. intr. To occur at the same [[time]]; to coincide in point of time; to be contemporary or simultaneous. Const. with. |
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| :c. In technical senses: to cause to coincide in time; to operate simultaneously or in synchronization. Also intr. | | :c. In technical senses: to cause to coincide in time; to operate simultaneously or in synchronization. Also intr. |
| *3. gen. To combine or co-ordinate. | | *3. gen. To combine or co-ordinate. |
| + | ==Transport== |
| + | Apart from its use for [[navigation]] (see John Harrison), synchronization was not important in transportation until the nineteenth century, when the coming of the railways made travel fast enough for the [[difference]]s in local time between adjacent towns to be noticeable (see [1]). |
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| + | In some territories, sharing of single railroad tracks was controlled by the timetable. Thus strict timekeeping was a safety requirement. To this day, railroads can [[communicate]] and signal along their tracks, independently of other systems for safety. |
| ==Communication== | | ==Communication== |
| The lessons of timekeeping are part of [[engineering]] [[technology]]. In electrical engineering terms, for [[digital]] [[logic]] and data transfer, a synchronous object requires a clock signal. Timekeeping technologies such as the GPS satellites and Network time protocol (NTP) provide [[real-time]] access to a close approximation to the UTC timescale, and are used for many [[terrestrial]] synchronisation applications. | | The lessons of timekeeping are part of [[engineering]] [[technology]]. In electrical engineering terms, for [[digital]] [[logic]] and data transfer, a synchronous object requires a clock signal. Timekeeping technologies such as the GPS satellites and Network time protocol (NTP) provide [[real-time]] access to a close approximation to the UTC timescale, and are used for many [[terrestrial]] synchronisation applications. |