How Does a Faulty Node Disturb Decentralized Slot Synchronization over Wireless Networks?

Abstract

Decentralized synchronization requires cooperation among network participants so that all nodes agree on a common reference timing. What happens if one node does not follow local synchronization rules and randomly transmits? This paper studies the resilience of two classes of decentralized slot synchronization against random disturbances, and quantifies the impact of the random behavior. It is shown that the coupling strength is a key factor for resilience, and that the synchronization approach based on the theory of coupled oscillators generally behaves better and is more robust than the approach that updates clocks based on the average neighboring timings.