Implementation of High Precision Synchronization Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks
Loading...
Date
2014-03-17
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CERIST
Abstract
Microsecond-level time synchronization is needed in realtime
applications of wireless sensor networks. While several
synchronization protocols have been proposed, most performance
evaluations have been limited to theoretical analysis and
simulation, with a high level of abstraction by ignoring several
practical aspects, e.g. packet handling jitters, clock drifting,
packet loss, etc. Effective implementation in real motes faces
several challenges due to motes' limitations and the unreliable
lossy channels. These issues affect the protocol performance and
precision. Authors of some pragmatic solutions followed empirical
approaches for the evaluation, where the proposed solutions have
been implemented on real motes and evaluated in testbed
experiments. While there are several survey articles presenting
the protocols from the conception perspectives, and others dealing
with mathematical and signal processing issues of the estimators,
a survey on aspects related to the practical implementation is
missing. This article throws light on issues related to the
implementation of synchronization protocols in WSN. The challenges
related to WSN environment are presented, the importance of real
implementation and the testbed evaluation are motivated by some
experiments that we conducted. Finally, some relevant
implementations of the literature that meet microsecond-level
precision are discussed.
Description
Keywords
wireless sensor network, time synchronization, implementation