Fireflies as role models for synchronization in ad hoc networks

Abstract

Fireflies exhibit a fascinating phenomenon of spontaneous synchronization that occurs in nature: at dawn, they gather on trees and synchronize progressively without relying on a central entity. The present article reviews this process by looking at experiments that were made on fireflies and the mathematical model of Mirollo and Strogatz [1], which provides key rules to obtaining a synchronized network in a decentralized manner. This model is then applied to wireless ad hoc networks. To properly apply this model with an accuracy limited only to the propagation delay, a novel synchronization scheme, which is derived from the original firefly synchronization principle, is presented, and simulation results are given.