Cluster-based and energy-balanced time synchronization algorithm for multi-hop wireless sensor networks

To solve the problems of synchronization error accumulation and unbalanced energy consumption in multi-hop wireless sensor networks (WSN), this paper proposes a high-precise and energy-balanced time synchronization algorithm based on hierarchy clustering topology. First, based on the analysis of the source of multi-hop error, cluster heads between adjacent layers adopt pairwise broadcast mechanism to reduce send time and use Bayesian theory to improve synchronization precision. Then, cluster members synchronize to the cluster head by the combination of bidirectional pair-wise synchronization and reference broadcast synchronization to reduce overhead, while a replier is selected according to residual energy to balance nodes’ energy consumption. The simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm performs better on the aspect of synchronization precision and power consumption compared with traditional algorithms.