Abstract:
The purpose of time synchronization is to allow the different nodes' clocks in a network to get relatively
close values at any moment. Currently, time synchronization is a fundamental problem in wireless sensor
and actuator networks (WSANs). Indeed, many WSANs applications, including node localization, sleep
schedule, and data aggregation, require accurate time synchronization to function properly. In this thesis, we
propose two cluster-based time synchronization protocols for WSANs, namely Sensor and Actuator
Networks Synchronization Protocol (SANSync), and Optimized Sensor and Actuator Networks
Synchronization Protocol (OSANSync). These protocols, contrary to existing protocols, fully exploit the
available resources of the actuators, particularly their large transmission range, to improve time
synchronization accuracy. We also propose a heuristic-based method to select the ROOT node through
which all the other nodes in the network are synchronized. The proposed method is fully distributed and can
be easily integrated into time synchronization protocols to improve their performance.
