Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks

The low-cost crystal oscillators in wireless sensor networks are prone to be affected by their working conditions such as voltage, temperature, and humidity. Such effect is often ignored by existing time synchronization solutions that typically assume the frequency error of a given node to be consta...

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Main Authors: Meng Jin, Dingyi Fang, Xiaojiang Chen, Zhe Yang, Chen Liu, Xiaoyan Yin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2014-07-01
Series:International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/285265
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author Meng Jin
Dingyi Fang
Xiaojiang Chen
Zhe Yang
Chen Liu
Xiaoyan Yin
author_facet Meng Jin
Dingyi Fang
Xiaojiang Chen
Zhe Yang
Chen Liu
Xiaoyan Yin
author_sort Meng Jin
collection DOAJ
description The low-cost crystal oscillators in wireless sensor networks are prone to be affected by their working conditions such as voltage, temperature, and humidity. Such effect is often ignored by existing time synchronization solutions that typically assume the frequency error of a given node to be constant and hence adopt frequent timestamp exchanges, resulting in high energy consumptions. We propose a novel voltage-aware time synchronization (VATS) scheme that is inspired by the fact that the clock skew is highly correlated to voltage supplies. VATS features a two-phase process: (i) it first estimates the clock skew and updates the frequency error autonomously based on the local voltage level; (ii) it then adjusts the resynchronization intervals dynamically according to a given synchronization error controlling factor and the synchronization error accumulating rate to balance the calibration accuracy and cost. Since VATS leverages voltage measurements to assist clock skew estimation, it does not require frequent timestamp exchanges as in traditional schemes. Extensive simulation results illustrate the superior performance of the proposed method in terms of calculation accuracy, robustness, and reduced timestamp exchanges for energy saving.
format Article
id doaj-art-3d46c561cff54776a50a3c47f492a9d9
institution Kabale University
issn 1550-1477
language English
publishDate 2014-07-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
spelling doaj-art-3d46c561cff54776a50a3c47f492a9d92025-08-20T03:55:33ZengWileyInternational Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks1550-14772014-07-011010.1155/2014/285265285265Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor NetworksMeng Jin0Dingyi Fang1Xiaojiang Chen2Zhe Yang3Chen Liu4Xiaoyan Yin5 School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China School of Computer Science, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, China School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710127, ChinaThe low-cost crystal oscillators in wireless sensor networks are prone to be affected by their working conditions such as voltage, temperature, and humidity. Such effect is often ignored by existing time synchronization solutions that typically assume the frequency error of a given node to be constant and hence adopt frequent timestamp exchanges, resulting in high energy consumptions. We propose a novel voltage-aware time synchronization (VATS) scheme that is inspired by the fact that the clock skew is highly correlated to voltage supplies. VATS features a two-phase process: (i) it first estimates the clock skew and updates the frequency error autonomously based on the local voltage level; (ii) it then adjusts the resynchronization intervals dynamically according to a given synchronization error controlling factor and the synchronization error accumulating rate to balance the calibration accuracy and cost. Since VATS leverages voltage measurements to assist clock skew estimation, it does not require frequent timestamp exchanges as in traditional schemes. Extensive simulation results illustrate the superior performance of the proposed method in terms of calculation accuracy, robustness, and reduced timestamp exchanges for energy saving.https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/285265
spellingShingle Meng Jin
Dingyi Fang
Xiaojiang Chen
Zhe Yang
Chen Liu
Xiaoyan Yin
Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
title Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
title_full Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
title_fullStr Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
title_full_unstemmed Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
title_short Voltage-Aware Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks
title_sort voltage aware time synchronization for wireless sensor networks
url https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/285265
work_keys_str_mv AT mengjin voltageawaretimesynchronizationforwirelesssensornetworks
AT dingyifang voltageawaretimesynchronizationforwirelesssensornetworks
AT xiaojiangchen voltageawaretimesynchronizationforwirelesssensornetworks
AT zheyang voltageawaretimesynchronizationforwirelesssensornetworks
AT chenliu voltageawaretimesynchronizationforwirelesssensornetworks
AT xiaoyanyin voltageawaretimesynchronizationforwirelesssensornetworks