Next: Introduction
Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
Jeremy Elson and Deborah Estrin
Department of Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles;
and
USC/Information Sciences Institute
{jelson,estrin}@isi.edu
Abstract:
Time synchronization is a critical piece of infrastructure for any
distributed system. Distributed, wireless sensor networks make
extensive use of synchronized time, but often have unique requirements
in the scope, lifetime, and precision of the synchronization achieved,
as well as the time and energy required to achieve it. Existing time
synchronization methods need to be extended to meet these new needs.
We outline the synchronization requirements of future sensor networks
and present an implementation of our own low-power synchronization
scheme, post-facto synchronization. We also describe an
experiment that characterizes its performance for creating short-lived
and localized but high-precision synchronization using very little
energy.