Algorithmic Aspects of the Time Synchronization
Problem in Large-Scale Sensor Networks.
Authors
A. Hu, S. D. Servetto.
Status
To appear in ACM/Kluwer Journal on Mobile Networks and Applications
(MONET), Special Issue on Wireless Sensor Networks, with selected (and
revised) papers from ACM WSNA 2003. Invited Paper.
Abstract
We study the time synchronization problem for large-scale wireless
sensor networks in the high-density regime. Our interest in this
problem arises from a sensor networking application, where a large
number of power-constrained radio transmitters coordinate their access
to a Gaussian multiple access channel to cooperate in generating a
waveform stronger than any individual node would be able to generate.
In a companion paper to this one, we study theoretical aspects of
a time synchronization mechanism that is optimal in the limit of
asymptotically high network densities. In this work we summarize
those results, and explore practical implementation issues of that
mechanism in the context of networks with large, but finite, numbers
of nodes. Through simulations, we find that the synchronization
mechanism performs very well for finite (and relatively small)
networks, maintaining tight clock synchronization indefinitely.