Multiple scenarios are possible during the operation of a multistation network. Here follows a description of the system behavior in some typical situations:

• Master fails

  If the master fails, central time synchronization for the connected slaves is lost. In this case, the synchronized slaves switch to standalone operation, restart the acquisition, and continue working independently using their local system time for data files. Since the system clocks of the computers typically do not drift significantly over short periods, or are synchronized via a Grandmaster Clock or GPS clock, any time deviations are initially minimal.

  As soon as the master becomes available again, all systems automatically restart and multistation operation is re-established.

• Slave fails

  If the connection to a slave is interrupted during acquisition, the acquisition is stopped and, after a timeout of 5 seconds, restarted with the remaining synchronized slaves. Once the affected slave becomes available again, the master stops the acquisition and all participants restart synchronously, restoring full multistation operation.

• Fiber optic connection interrupted

  If a synchronized slave was unable to start in multistation mode because the FO connection was interrupted at the start of the acquisition, it switches to "Standalone" mode and continuously monitors the FO connection. As soon as the FO connection is re-established and has been active for more than 2 seconds, the synchronized slave automatically restarts the acquisition and is included into the multistation network again.

• Time synchronization (Grandmaster Clock) fails

  If the Grandmaster Clock is unavailable, ibaPDA waits until the clock is available again. The time is kept by the motherboard's quartz, but this does not guarantee accuracy. The entire system shifts in time but remains internally synchronized. As soon as the Grandmaster Clock is available again, ibaPDA will synchronize itself.