E-raamat: Synchronization in Wireless Sensor Networks: Parameter Estimation, Performance Benchmarks, and Protocols

Clock or time synchronization in wireless sensor network is a critical factor in network functioning due to the decentralized organization of wireless sensor networks and timing uncertainties caused by the imperfections in hardware oscillators and message delays at the physical and medium access control layers and is also important for such operations as power management, transmission scheduling, data fusion, localization and tracking, and security protocols, among others. In this work, Serpedin (Texas A&M U., US) and Chaudhari (Iqra U., Pakistan) provides an introduction to the clock synchronization of wireless sensor networks from a statistical signal processing viewpoint, with most topics therefore dealing with building efficient clock offset estimation algorithms and performance benchmarks for general synchronization approaches that rely on sender-receiver and receiver-receiver timing packet exchange mechanisms. They also present a summary of the key features of the most representative protocols proposed for clock synchronization of wireless sensor networks, as well as some open research problems. The material will be of use to practitioners looking for techniques to improve the performance of existing protocols such as network time protocol, time protocol for synchronization of sensor networks, reference broadcast synchronization, and pairwise broadcast synchronization, among others. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Presents the key clock synchronization protocols, emphasizing design and optimization techniques for building efficient estimation schemes and performance benchmarks.

Wireless sensor networks are set to play a key role in a wide range of civilian and military applications, with tiny sensors connected through wireless links performing various sensing, computing, communication, and control tasks in highly distributed systems. This book presents a critical element in the deployment of wireless sensor networks: the process of synchronization. It summarizes the most important clock synchronization protocols proposed for wireless sensor networks with special emphasis placed on deriving efficient clock offset estimation schemes and performance benchmarks. Graduate students of electrical and computer engineering and computer science will find this a valuable resource, as will engineers who are interested in designing efficient clock synchronization algorithms and improving the performance of existing synchronization protocols.