A survey of time synchronization of wireless sensor networks
Wang Li, Zhi Bin Wang · 2007
Wireless sensor networks have experienced world-wide explosive interests in recent years, which consist of large populations of wirelessly connected nodes, capable of computation, communication, and sensing. Sensor nodes cooperate in order to merge individual sensor readings into a high-level sensing result, such as integrating a time series of position measurements into a velocity estimate. The physical time of sensor readings is a key element in this process called data fusion. Hence, time synchronization is a crucial component of WSNs. We argue that time synchronization schemes developed for traditional networks are illsuited for WSNs and suggest more appropriate approaches.