TIME SYNCHRONIZATION IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS: A SURVEY
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paper_title: Time synchronization in ad hoc networks

paper_content:

Ubiquitous computing environments are typically based upon ad hoc networks of mobile computing devices. These devices may be equipped with sensor hardware to sense the physical environment and may be attached to real world artifacts to form so-called smart things. The data sensed by various smart things can then be combined to derive knowledge about the environment, which in turn enables the smart things to "react" intelligently to their environment. For this so-called sensor fusion, temporal relationships (X happened before Y) and real-time issues (X and Y happended within a certain time interval) play an important role. Thus physical time and clock synchronization are crucial in such environments. However, due to the characteristics of sparse ad hoc networks, classical clock synchronization algorithms are not applicable in this setting. We present a time synchronization scheme that is appropriate for sparse ad hoc networks
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paper_title: Fine-grained network time synchronization using reference broadcasts

paper_content:

Recent advances in miniaturization and low-cost, low-power design have led to active research in large-scale networks of small, wireless, low-power sensors and actuators. Time synchronization is critical in sensor networks for diverse purposes including sensor data fusion, coordinated actuation, and power-efficient duty cycling. Though the clock accuracy and precision requirements are often stricter than in traditional distributed systems, strict energy constraints limit the resources available to meet these goals.We present Reference-Broadcast Synchronization, a scheme in which nodes send reference beacons to their neighbors using physical-layer broadcasts. A reference broadcast does not contain an explicit timestamp; instead, receivers use its arrival time as a point of reference for comparing their clocks. In this paper, we use measurements from two wireless implementations to show that removing the sender's nondeterminism from the critical path in this way produces high-precision clock agreement (1.85± 1.28μsec, using off-the-shelf 802.11 wireless Ethernet), while using minimal energy. We also describe a novel algorithm that uses this same broadcast property to federate clocks across broadcast domains with a slow decay in precision (3.68± 2.57μsec after 4 hops). RBS can be used without external references, forming a precise relative timescale, or can maintain microsecond-level synchronization to an external timescale such as UTC. We show a significant improvement over the Network Time Protocol (NTP) under similar conditions.
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paper_title: Time synchronization in ad hoc networks

paper_content:

Ubiquitous computing environments are typically based upon ad hoc networks of mobile computing devices. These devices may be equipped with sensor hardware to sense the physical environment and may be attached to real world artifacts to form so-called smart things. The data sensed by various smart things can then be combined to derive knowledge about the environment, which in turn enables the smart things to "react" intelligently to their environment. For this so-called sensor fusion, temporal relationships (X happened before Y) and real-time issues (X and Y happended within a certain time interval) play an important role. Thus physical time and clock synchronization are crucial in such environments. However, due to the characteristics of sparse ad hoc networks, classical clock synchronization algorithms are not applicable in this setting. We present a time synchronization scheme that is appropriate for sparse ad hoc networks
---
paper_title: Fine-grained network time synchronization using reference broadcasts

paper_content:

Recent advances in miniaturization and low-cost, low-power design have led to active research in large-scale networks of small, wireless, low-power sensors and actuators. Time synchronization is critical in sensor networks for diverse purposes including sensor data fusion, coordinated actuation, and power-efficient duty cycling. Though the clock accuracy and precision requirements are often stricter than in traditional distributed systems, strict energy constraints limit the resources available to meet these goals.We present Reference-Broadcast Synchronization, a scheme in which nodes send reference beacons to their neighbors using physical-layer broadcasts. A reference broadcast does not contain an explicit timestamp; instead, receivers use its arrival time as a point of reference for comparing their clocks. In this paper, we use measurements from two wireless implementations to show that removing the sender's nondeterminism from the critical path in this way produces high-precision clock agreement (1.85± 1.28μsec, using off-the-shelf 802.11 wireless Ethernet), while using minimal energy. We also describe a novel algorithm that uses this same broadcast property to federate clocks across broadcast domains with a slow decay in precision (3.68± 2.57μsec after 4 hops). RBS can be used without external references, forming a precise relative timescale, or can maintain microsecond-level synchronization to an external timescale such as UTC. We show a significant improvement over the Network Time Protocol (NTP) under similar conditions.
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paper_title: Timing-sync protocol for sensor networks

paper_content:

Wireless ad-hoc sensor networks have emerged as an interesting and important research area in the last few years. The applications envisioned for such networks require collaborative execution of a distributed task amongst a large set of sensor nodes. This is realized by exchanging messages that are time-stamped using the local clocks on the nodes. Therefore, time synchronization becomes an indispensable piece of infrastructure in such systems. For years, protocols such as NTP have kept the clocks of networked systems in perfect synchrony. However, this new class of networks has a large density of nodes and very limited energy resource at every node; this leads to scalability requirements while limiting the resources that can be used to achieve them. A new approach to time synchronization is needed for sensor networks.In this paper, we present Timing-sync Protocol for Sensor Networks (TPSN) that aims at providing network-wide time synchronization in a sensor network. The algorithm works in two steps. In the first step, a hierarchical structure is established in the network and then a pair wise synchronization is performed along the edges of this structure to establish a global timescale throughout the network. Eventually all nodes in the network synchronize their clocks to a reference node. We implement our algorithm on Berkeley motes and show that it can synchronize a pair of neighboring motes to an average accuracy of less than 20ms. We argue that TPSN roughly gives a 2x better performance as compared to Reference Broadcast Synchronization (RBS) and verify this by implementing RBS on motes. We also show the performance of TPSN over small multihop networks of motes and use simulations to verify its accuracy over large-scale networks. We show that the synchronization accuracy does not degrade significantly with the increase in number of nodes being deployed, making TPSN completely scalable.
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paper_title: Lightweight time synchronization for sensor networks

paper_content:

This paper presents lightweight tree-based synchronization (LTS) methods for sensor networks. First, a single-hop, pair-wise synchronization scheme is analyzed. This scheme requires the exchange of only three messages and has Gaussian error properties. The single-hop approach is extended to a centralized multi-hop synchronization method. Multi-hop synchronization consists of pair-wise synchronizations performed along the edges of a spanning tree. Multi-hop synchronization requires only n-1 pair-wise synchronizations for a network of n nodes. In addition, we show that the communication complexity and accuracy of multi-hop synchronization is a function of the construction and depth of the spanning tree; several spanning-tree construction algorithms are described. Further, the required refresh rate of multi-hop synchronization is shown as a function of clock drift and the accuracy of single-hop synchronization. Finally, a distributed multi-hop synchronization is presented where nodes keep track of their own clock drift and their synchronization accuracy. In this scheme, nodes initialize their own resynchronization as needed.
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paper_title: The flooding time synchronization protocol

paper_content:

Wireless sensor network applications, similarly to other distributed systems, often require a scalable time synchronization service enabling data consistency and coordination. This paper describes the Flooding Time Synchronization Protocol (FTSP), especially tailored for applications requiring stringent precision on resource limited wireless platforms. The proposed time synchronization protocol uses low communication bandwidth and it is robust against node and link failures. The FTSP achieves its robustness by utilizing periodic flooding of synchronization messages, and implicit dynamic topology update. The unique high precision performance is reached by utilizing MAC-layer time-stamping and comprehensive error compensation including clock skew estimation. The sources of delays and uncertainties in message transmission are analyzed in detail and techniques are presented to mitigate their effects. The FTSP was implemented on the Berkeley Mica2 platform and evaluated in a 60-node, multi-hop setup. The average per-hop synchronization error was in the one microsecond range, which is markedly better than that of the existing RBS and TPSN algorithms.
---
paper_title: Lightweight time synchronization for sensor networks

paper_content:

This paper presents lightweight tree-based synchronization (LTS) methods for sensor networks. First, a single-hop, pair-wise synchronization scheme is analyzed. This scheme requires the exchange of only three messages and has Gaussian error properties. The single-hop approach is extended to a centralized multi-hop synchronization method. Multi-hop synchronization consists of pair-wise synchronizations performed along the edges of a spanning tree. Multi-hop synchronization requires only n-1 pair-wise synchronizations for a network of n nodes. In addition, we show that the communication complexity and accuracy of multi-hop synchronization is a function of the construction and depth of the spanning tree; several spanning-tree construction algorithms are described. Further, the required refresh rate of multi-hop synchronization is shown as a function of clock drift and the accuracy of single-hop synchronization. Finally, a distributed multi-hop synchronization is presented where nodes keep track of their own clock drift and their synchronization accuracy. In this scheme, nodes initialize their own resynchronization as needed.
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paper_title: Security and privacy in sensor networks

paper_content:

Sensor networks offer economically viable solutions for a variety of applications. For example, current implementations monitor factory instrumentation, pollution levels, freeway traffic, and the structural integrity of buildings. Other applications include climate sensing and control in office buildings and home environmental sensing systems for temperature, light, moisture, and motion. Sensor networks are key to the creation of smart spaces, which embed information technology in everyday home and work environments. The miniature wireless sensor nodes, or motes, developed from low-cost off-the-shelf components at the University of California, Berkeley, as part of its smart dust projects, establish a self-organizing sensor network when dispersed into an environment. The privacy and security issues posed by sensor networks represent a rich field of research problems. Improving network hardware and software may address many of the issues, but others will require new supporting technologies.
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paper_title: Establishing pairwise keys in distributed sensor networks

paper_content:

Pairwise key establishment is a fundamental security service in sensor networks; it enables sensor nodes to communicate securely with each other using cryptographic techniques. However, due to the resource constraints on sensors, it is infeasible to use traditional key management techniques such as public key cryptography and key distribution center (KDC). To facilitate the study of novel pairwise key predistribution techniques, this paper presents a general framework for establishing pairwise keys between sensors on the basis of a polynomial-based key predistribution protocol [2]. This paper then presents two efficient instantiations of the general framework: a random subset assignment key predistribution scheme and a grid-based key predistribution scheme. The analysis in this paper indicates that these two schemes have a number of nice properties, including high probability (or guarantee) to establish pairwise keys, tolerance of node captures, and low communication overhead. Finally, this paper presents a technique to reduce the computation at sensors required by these schemes.
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paper_title: Comparing Elliptic Curve Cryptography and RSA on 8-bit CPUs

paper_content:

Strong public-key cryptography is often considered to be too computationally expensive for small devices if not accelerated by cryptographic hardware. We revisited this statement and implemented elliptic curve point multiplication for 160-bit, 192-bit, and 224-bit NIST/SECG curves over GF(p) and RSA-1024 and RSA-2048 on two 8-bit microcontrollers. To accelerate multiple-precision multiplication, we propose a new algorithm to reduce the number of memory accesses.
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paper_title: Random key predistribution schemes for sensor networks

paper_content:

Key establishment in sensor networks is a challenging problem because asymmetric key cryptosystems are unsuitable for use in resource constrained sensor nodes, and also because the nodes could be physically compromised by an adversary. We present three new mechanisms for key establishment using the framework of pre-distributing a random set of keys to each node. First, in the q-composite keys scheme, we trade off the unlikeliness of a large-scale network attack in order to significantly strengthen random key predistribution's strength against smaller-scale attacks. Second, in the multipath-reinforcement scheme, we show how to strengthen the security between any two nodes by leveraging the security of other links. Finally, we present the random-pairwise keys scheme, which perfectly preserves the secrecy of the rest of the network when any node is captured, and also enables node-to-node authentication and quorum-based revocation.
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paper_title: Gradient clock synchronization in wireless sensor networks

paper_content:

Accurately synchronized clocks are crucial for many applications in sensor networks. Existing time synchronization algorithms provide on average good synchronization between arbitrary nodes, however, as we show in this paper, close-by nodes in a network may be synchronized poorly. We propose the Gradient Time Synchronization Protocol (GTSP) which is designed to provide accurately synchronized clocks between neighbors. GTSP works in a completely decentralized fashion: Every node periodically broadcasts its time information. Synchronization messages received from direct neighbors are used to calibrate the logical clock. The algorithm requires neither a tree topology nor a reference node, which makes it robust against link and node failures. The protocol is implemented on the Mica2 platform using TinyOS. We present an evaluation of GTSP on a 20-node testbed setup and simulations on larger network topologies.
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paper_title: A public-key infrastructure for key distribution in TinyOS based on elliptic curve cryptography

paper_content:

We present the first known implementation of elliptic curve cryptography over F/sub 2p/ for sensor networks based on the 8-bit, 7.3828-MHz MICA2 mote. Through instrumentation of UC Berkeley's TinySec module, we argue that, although secret-key cryptography has been tractable in this domain for some time, there has remained a need for an efficient, secure mechanism for distribution of secret keys among nodes. Although public-key infrastructure has been thought impractical, we argue, through analysis of our own implementation for TinyOS of multiplication of points on elliptic curves, that public-key infrastructure is, in fact, viable for TinySec keys' distribution, even on the MICA2. We demonstrate that public keys can be generated within 34 seconds, and that shared secrets can be distributed among nodes in a sensor network within the same, using just over 1 kilobyte of SRAM and 34 kilobytes of ROM.
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paper_title: Attack-resilient time synchronization for wireless sensor networks

paper_content:

The existing time synchronization schemes in sensor networks were not designed with security in mind, thus leaving them vulnerable to security attacks. In this paper, we first identify various attacks that are effective to several representative time synchronization schemes, and then focus on a specific type of attack called delay attack, which cannot be addressed by cryptographic techniques. Next we propose two approaches to detect and accommodate the delay attack. Our first approach uses the generalized extreme studentized deviate (GESD) algorithm to detect multiple outliers introduced by the compromised nodes; our second approach uses a threshold derived using a time transformation technique to filter out the outliers. Finally we show the effectiveness of these two schemes through extensive simulations
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paper_title: The flooding time synchronization protocol

paper_content:

Wireless sensor network applications, similarly to other distributed systems, often require a scalable time synchronization service enabling data consistency and coordination. This paper describes the Flooding Time Synchronization Protocol (FTSP), especially tailored for applications requiring stringent precision on resource limited wireless platforms. The proposed time synchronization protocol uses low communication bandwidth and it is robust against node and link failures. The FTSP achieves its robustness by utilizing periodic flooding of synchronization messages, and implicit dynamic topology update. The unique high precision performance is reached by utilizing MAC-layer time-stamping and comprehensive error compensation including clock skew estimation. The sources of delays and uncertainties in message transmission are analyzed in detail and techniques are presented to mitigate their effects. The FTSP was implemented on the Berkeley Mica2 platform and evaluated in a 60-node, multi-hop setup. The average per-hop synchronization error was in the one microsecond range, which is markedly better than that of the existing RBS and TPSN algorithms.
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paper_title: Optimal clock synchronization in networks

paper_content:

Having access to an accurate time is a vital building block in all networks; in wireless sensor networks even more so, because wireless media access or data fusion may depend on it. Starting out with a novel analysis, we show that orthodox clock synchronization algorithms make fundamental mistakes. The state-of-the-art clock synchronization algorithm FTSP exhibits an error that grows exponentially with the size of the network, for instance. Since the involved parameters are small, the error only becomes visible in midsize networks of about 10--20 nodes. In contrast, we present PulseSync, a new clock synchronization algorithm that is asymptotically optimal. We evaluate PulseSync on a Mica2 testbed, and by simulation on larger networks. On a 20 node network, the prototype implementation of PulseSync outperforms FTSP by a factor of 5. Theory and simulation show that for larger networks, PulseSync offers an accuracy which is several orders of magnitude better than FTSP. To round off the presentation, we investigate several optimization issues, e.g. media access and local skew.
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paper_title: Wireless integrated network sensors: Low power systems on a chip

paper_content:

Wireless Integrated Network Sensors (WINS) now provide a new monitoring and control capability for transportation, manufacturing, health care, environmental monitoring, and safety and security. WINS combine sensing, signal processing, decision capability, and wireless networking capability in a compact, low power system. WINS systems combine microsensor technology with low power sensor interface, signal processing, and RF communication circuits. The need for low cost presents engineering challenges for implementation of these systems in conventional digital CMOS technology. This paper describes micropower data converter, digital signal processing systems, and weak inversion CMOS RF circuits. The digital signal processing system relies on a continuously operating spectrum analyzer. Finally, the weak inversion CMOS RF systems are designed to exploit the properties of high-Q inductors to enable low power operation. This paper reviews system architecture and low power circuits for WINS.
---
paper_title: Fine-grained network time synchronization using reference broadcasts

paper_content:

Recent advances in miniaturization and low-cost, low-power design have led to active research in large-scale networks of small, wireless, low-power sensors and actuators. Time synchronization is critical in sensor networks for diverse purposes including sensor data fusion, coordinated actuation, and power-efficient duty cycling. Though the clock accuracy and precision requirements are often stricter than in traditional distributed systems, strict energy constraints limit the resources available to meet these goals.We present Reference-Broadcast Synchronization, a scheme in which nodes send reference beacons to their neighbors using physical-layer broadcasts. A reference broadcast does not contain an explicit timestamp; instead, receivers use its arrival time as a point of reference for comparing their clocks. In this paper, we use measurements from two wireless implementations to show that removing the sender's nondeterminism from the critical path in this way produces high-precision clock agreement (1.85± 1.28μsec, using off-the-shelf 802.11 wireless Ethernet), while using minimal energy. We also describe a novel algorithm that uses this same broadcast property to federate clocks across broadcast domains with a slow decay in precision (3.68± 2.57μsec after 4 hops). RBS can be used without external references, forming a precise relative timescale, or can maintain microsecond-level synchronization to an external timescale such as UTC. We show a significant improvement over the Network Time Protocol (NTP) under similar conditions.
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paper_title: Delay Measurement Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks

paper_content:

Amino acid fermentation is conducted by fermenting bacterial cells in a culture medium in a fermentor and separating fermentation solution withdrawn from the fermentor into a solution containing said bacterial cells and a solution not containing bacterial cells by a cell separator. The solution containing said bacterial cells being circulated from said cell separator to said fermenter by circulating means to perform amino acid fermentation continuously, and bubbles being removed from said fermentation solution by a bubble separator before said fermentation solution is fed to said circulating means and said cell separator.
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paper_title: Directed diffusion: a scalable and robust communication paradigm for sensor networks

paper_content:

Advances in processor, memory and radio technology will enable small and cheap nodes capable of sensing, communication and computation. Networks of such nodes can coordinate to perform distributed sensing of environmental phenomena. In this paper, we explore the directed diffusion paradigm for such coordination. Directed diffusion is datacentric in that all communication is for named data. All nodes in a directed diffusion-based network are application-aware. This enables diffusion to achieve energy savings by selecting empirically good paths and by caching and processing data in-network. We explore and evaluate the use of directed diffusion for a simple remote-surveillance sensor network.
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paper_title: Global clock synchronization in sensor networks

paper_content:

Global synchronization is important for many sensor network applications that require precise mapping of collected sensor data with the time of the events, for example, in tracking and surveillance. It also plays an important role in energy conservation in MAC layer protocols. This paper describes four methods to achieve global synchronization in a sensor network: a node-based approach, a hierarchical cluster-based method, a diffusion-based method, and a fault-tolerant diffusion-based method. The diffusion-based protocol is fully localized. We present two implementations of the diffusion-based protocol for synchronous and asynchronous systems and prove its convergence. Finally, we show that, by imposing some constraints on the sensor network, global clock synchronization can be achieved in the presence of malicious nodes that exhibit Byzantine failures.
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paper_title: Continuous clock synchronization in wireless real-time applications

paper_content:

Continuous clock synchronization avoids unpredictable instantaneous corrections of clock values. This is usually achieved by spreading the clock correction over the synchronization interval. In the context of wireless real time applications, a protocol achieving continuous clock synchronization must tolerate message losses and should have a low overhead in terms of the number of messages. The paper presents a clock synchronization protocol for continuous clock synchronization in wireless real time applications. It extends the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks. It provides continuous clock synchronization, improves the precision by exploiting the tightness of the communication medium, and tolerates message losses. Continuous clock synchronization is achieved with an advanced algorithm adjusting the clock rates. We present the design of the protocol, its mathematical analysis, and measurements of a driver level implementation of the protocol on Windows NT.
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paper_title: Wireless integrated network sensors: Low power systems on a chip

paper_content:

Wireless Integrated Network Sensors (WINS) now provide a new monitoring and control capability for transportation, manufacturing, health care, environmental monitoring, and safety and security. WINS combine sensing, signal processing, decision capability, and wireless networking capability in a compact, low power system. WINS systems combine microsensor technology with low power sensor interface, signal processing, and RF communication circuits. The need for low cost presents engineering challenges for implementation of these systems in conventional digital CMOS technology. This paper describes micropower data converter, digital signal processing systems, and weak inversion CMOS RF circuits. The digital signal processing system relies on a continuously operating spectrum analyzer. Finally, the weak inversion CMOS RF systems are designed to exploit the properties of high-Q inductors to enable low power operation. This paper reviews system architecture and low power circuits for WINS.
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Title: TIME SYNCHRONIZATION IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS: A SURVEY

Section 1: INTRODUCTION
Description 1: Write an introduction to the time synchronization problem in wireless sensor networks, its importance, and the aim of the survey.

Section 2: TIME SYNCHRONIZATION PROBLEM
Description 2: Describe the core issues related to time synchronization in sensor networks, including clock drift and initialization inconsistencies.

Section 3: RELATED WORK ON TIME-SYNC SCHEMES
Description 3: Discuss various time synchronization schemes like NTP, RBS, TPSN, and FTSP, highlighting their methodologies and differences.

Section 4: UNCERTAINTY IN THE SYNC PACKET
Description 4: Explain the uncertainty factors in synchronization packets and how different protocols address or minimize these uncertainties.

Section 5: SECURE TIME SYNCHRONIZATION
Description 5: Examine the need for secure time synchronization, the vulnerabilities of existing schemes, and potential security measures.

Section 6: ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF SYNCHRONIZATION SCHEMES
Description 6: Analyze the energy consumption implications of different synchronization schemes and compare their efficiencies.

Section 7: POST-FACTO SYNCHRONIZATION
Description 7: Introduce the concept of post-facto synchronization, its benefits, limitations, and specific applications.

Section 8: GLOBAL CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION
Description 8: Discuss the importance and challenges of achieving global clock synchronization in sensor networks, including different global sync methods.

Section 9: GROUP SYNCHRONIZATION
Description 9: Describe the concept of group synchronization, its necessity in certain applications, and the techniques used to achieve it.

Section 10: CONCLUSION
Description 10: Summarize the key points of the survey, reflecting on the importance of precise and secure time synchronization, and its future research directions.