Synchronization Inspired from Nature for Wireless Meshed Networks

In this paper a decentralized synchronization algorithm for ad hoc networks is presented. The algorithm is derived from a model describing synchronization phenomena in biological self-organized systems. Constraints in a wireless environment, such as the fact that a node cannot receive and transmit simultaneously (deafness), the duration of a synchronization message and the delay required at the receiver to decode this message, are taken into account. When applied to meshed networks where nodes have few neighbors, deafness becomes problematic. That is, nodes which are transmitting cannot receive messages, an effect which becomes increasingly severe as the number of neighboring nodes decreases. We propose a delay tolerant synchronization scheme which retains high synchronization rates even in difficult network topologies, with an accuracy only limited by propagation delays