Snowball Effect Time Synchronization Based on Energy Optimization for Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

In large scale of WSNs (wireless sensor networks), a centralized algorithm is not suitable for WSNs. Distributed algorithm has the obvious advantage over traditional time synchronization algorithm. The paper proposes a distributed time synchronization algorithm for WSNs, called SNOWBALL effect time synchronization. In the algorithm, a node needs only to communicate with its neighbor node, synchronizing itself clock based on the neighbor nodes information. The algorithm is a continuous synchronization process. The network will reach balance and clock consistency after repeated algorithm iterations. In the algorithm, we achieve network energy optimization by reducing unnecessary message exchange.