A step forward the on-line minimization of the synchronization events in TPSN

The paper proposes an experimental approach to the optimization of synchronization protocols for wireless sensor networks. The authors' research is aimed in both minimizing the synchronization residual error and the wireless sensor node energy consumption. The approach has been thought to be applied to different synchronization protocols and to give the best results for small scale wireless sensor network. In particular, results concerning the well know Timing Synchronization Protocol for Sensor Networks (TPSN) are presented in the paper. The main idea is that the sensor node be synchronized with the master node on the basis of two suitable figures of merit: the former takes into account the past synchronizations, whilst the latter depends on the residual error after the last synchronization. On the basis of the on board and real time evaluation of these two indexes the number of synchronization events and the node energy consumption can be both reduced.