Performance of Distributed Consensus Time Synchronization with Gaussian Delay in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents theoretical results on the convergence of the distributed consensus timing synchronization (DCTS) algorithm for wireless sensor networks assuming general Gaussian delay between nodes. The asymptotic expectation and mean square of the global synchronization error are computed. The results lead to the definition of a time delay balanced network in which average timing consensus between nodes can be achieved despite random delays. Several structured network architectures are studied as examples and their associated simulation results are used to validate analytical findings.