Distributed Clock Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Belief Propagation

Abstract

In this paper, we study the global clock synchronization problem for wireless sensor networks. Based on belief propagation, we propose a fully distributed algorithm which has low overhead and can achieve scalable synchronization. It is also shown analytically that the proposed algorithm always converges for strongly connected networks. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better accuracy than consensus algorithms. Furthermore, the belief obtained at each sensor provides an accurate prediction on the algorithm's performance in terms of MSE.