Maximum likelihood estimation based on time synchronization algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Traditional time synchronization algorithm focuses on improving the synchronization mechanism to improve the synchronization accuracy. With development of time synchronization, more and more focuses on how to process the synchronization information to improve the synchronization accuracy. Maximum likelihood estimation method is one of the mathematical statistics theories commonly used in parameter estimation, which is commonly used in data processing as well. This article is devoted to further processing the synchronization information in HTRS (the push-based hierarchy referencing time synchronization protocol) by using the maximum likelihood estimation method, so as to improve the accuracy of this synchronization algorithm. We should point that this improvement does not alter the original synchronization mechanism. And the local node can use their own ability to deal with the synchronization information, by employing the maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the maximum possible value of the time offset. Our experiments show that the maximum likelihood estimation method can improve the accuracy of the synchronization algorithm without changing the original synchronization mechanism.