Tree structured, multi-hop time synchronization approach in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Time synchronization for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has been studied in recent years as a fundamental and significant research issue. Time synchronization in a WSN is a critical for accurate time stamping of events and fine-tuned coordination among the sensor nodes to reduce power consumption. This paper proposes a reference based, tree structured multi-hop time synchronization service for WSNs in which sensor nodes synchronize by collecting reference points with reference to Root node of the logically constructed tree structure of the network. Proposed approach is lightweight as the number of required broadcasting messages is restricted to one broadcasting domain. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.