Patent ID: 8630314

Claim:
Apparatus including at least two metrology devices that communicate with each other in a bidirectional manner, the apparatus comprising: a first one of the at least two metrology devices having an IEEE 1588 precision time protocol interface, the interface including one or more components configured for bidirectional communications in both a wired manner and a wireless manner with a second one of the at least two metrology devices; the second one of the at least two metrology devices having an IEEE 1588 precision time protocol interface, the interface including one or more components configured for bidirectional communications in both a wired manner and a wireless manner with the first one of the at least two metrology devices; wherein one of the at least two metrology devices includes a master clock and the other one of the at least two metrology devices includes a slave clock, wherein the master clock communicates a time to the slave clock and the slave clock is responsive to the communicated time from the master clock to adjust a time of the slave clock if necessary to substantially correspond to the time of the master clock, thereby time synchronizing the at least two metrology devices together; and wherein each metrology device measures a parameter and wherein the measurements made by each metrology device occur in a time synchronized manner as a result of the time of the slave clock substantially corresponding to the time of the master clock.