Clock synchronization is one of fundamental requirements in distributed networks. However, the imperfection of crystal oscillators is a potential hurdle for network-wide collaboration and degrades the performance of cooperative applications. Since clock discrepancy among nodes is inevitable, many software and hardware attempts have been introduced to meet synchronization requirements. Most of the attempts are built on communication protocols that demand timestamp exchanges to improve synchronization accuracy or resource efficiency. However, link delay and environmental changes sometimes impede these synchronization efforts that achieve in desired accuracy. First, the clock synchronization problem was examined in networks where nodes lack the high accuracy oscillators or programmable network interfaces some previous protocols depend on. Next, a stochastic and practical clock model was developed by using information criteria which followed the principle of Occam's razor. The model was optimized in terms of the number of parameters. Simulation by using real measurements on low-powered micro-controllers validated the derived clock model. Last, based on the model, a clock tracking algorithm was proposed to achieve high synchronization accuracy between unstable clocks. This algorithm employed the Kalman filter to track clock offset and skew. Extensive simulations demonstrated that the proposed synchronization algorithm not only could follow the clock uncertainties shown in real measurements but also was tolerant to corrupted timestamp deliveries. Clock oscillators are vulnerable to noises and environmental changes. As a second approach, clock estimation technique that took circumstances into consideration was proposed. Through experiments on mobile devices, the obstacles were clarified in synchronization over wireless networks. While the causes of clock inaccuracy were focused on, the effect of environmental changes on clock drifting was investigated. The analysis of the observations inspired an M-estimator of clock error that was accurate but under dominant disturbances such as oscillator instability and random network delay. A Kalman filter was designed to compensate with temperature changes and estimate clock offset and skew. The proposed temperature-compensated Kalman filter achieved the better estimates of clock offset and skew by adjusting frequency shifts caused by temperature changes. The proposed Kalman filter-based clock synchronization was implemented in C. A real-time operation was proved by clock tracking between two mobile platforms that the synchronization technique was implemented on. Moreover, the technique was converted to fixed-point algorithm, which might degrade performance, to evaluate the synchronizing operation on fixed-point processors. The fixed-point simulation reported performance degradation caused by limited hardware resources; however, it also corroborated the applicability of the synchronization technique.

No / The main attributes that have been used to conserve the energy in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are clustering, synchronization and low-duty-cycle operation. Clustering is an energy efficient mechanism that divides sensor nodes into many clusters. Clustering is a standard approach for achieving energy efficient and hence extending the network lifetime. Synchronize the schedules of these clusters is one of the primary challenges in WSNs. Several factors cause the synchronization errors. Among them, clock drift that is accommodated at each hop over the time. Synchronization by means of scheduling allows the nodes to cooperate and transmit data in a scheduled manner under the duty cycle mechanism. Duty cycle is the approach to efficiently utilize the limited energy supplies for the sensors. This concept is used to reduce idle listening. Duty cycle, nodes clustering and schedules synchronization are the main attributes we have considered for designing a new medium access control (MAC) protocol. The proposed OLS-MAC protocol designed with the target of making the schedules of the clusters to be overlapped with introducing a small shift time between the adjacent clusters schedules to compensate the clock drift. The OLS-MAC algorithm is simulated in NS-2 and compared to some S-MAC derived protocols. We verified that our proposed algorithm outperform these protocols in number of performance matrix.

Efficient algorithms for time synchronization, including compensation for clock drift, are essential in order to obtain reliable fusion of data samples from multiple wireless sensor nodes. This paper evaluates the performance of algorithms based on three different approaches; one that synchronizes the local clocks on the sensor nodes, and a second that uses a single clock on the receiving node (e.g. a mobile phone), and a third that uses broadcast messages. The performances of the synchronization algorithms are evaluated in wireless personal area networks, especially Bluetooth piconets and ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 networks. A new approach for compensation of clock drift and a realtime implementation of single node synchronization from the mobile phone are presented and tested. Finally, applications of data fusion and time synchronization are shown in two different use cases; a kayaking sports case, and monitoring of heart and respiration of prematurely born infants. / <p>QC 20130605</p>

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a collection of tiny devices called sensor nodes which are deployed in an area to be monitored. Each node has one or more sensors with which they can measure the characteristics of their surroundings. In a typical WSN, the data gathered by each node is sent wirelessly through the network from one node to the next towards a central base station. Each node typically has a very limited energy supply. Therefore, in order for WSNs to have acceptable lifetimes, energy efficiency is a design goal that is of utmost importance and must be kept in mind at all levels of a WSN system. The main consumer of energy on a node is the wireless transceiver and therefore, the communications that occur between nodes should be carefully controlled so as not to waste energy. The Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is directly in charge of managing the transceiver of a node. It determines when the transceiver is on/off and synchronizes the data exchanges among neighbouring nodes so as to prevent collisions etc., enabling useful communications to occur. The MAC protocol thus has a big impact on the overall energy efficiency of a node. Many WSN MAC protocols have been proposed in the literature but it was found that most were not optimized for the group of WSNs displaying very low volumes of traffic in the network. In low traffic WSNs, a major problem faced in the communications process is clock drift, which causes nodes to become unsynchronized. The MAC protocol must overcome this and other problems while expending as little energy as possible. Many useful WSN applications show low traffic characteristics and thus a new MAC protocol was developed which is aimed at this category of WSNs. The new protocol, Dynamic Preamble Sampling MAC (DPS-MAC) builds on the family of preamble sampling protocols which were found to be most suitable for low traffic WSNs. In contrast to the most energy efficient existing preamble sampling protocols, DPS-MAC does not cater for the worst case clock drift that can occur between two nodes. Rather, it dynamically learns the actual clock drift experienced between any two nodes and then adjusts its operation accordingly. By simulation it was shown that DPS-MAC requires less protocol overhead during the communication process and thus performs more energy efficiently than its predecessors under various network operating conditions. Furthermore, DPS-MAC is less prone to become overloaded or unstable in conditions of high traffic load and high contention levels respectively. These improvements cause the use of DPS-MAC to lead to longer node and network lifetimes, thus making low traffic WSNs more feasible. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

Wireless personal area networks have emerged as an important communication infrastructure in areas such as at-home healthcare and home automation, independent living and assistive technology, as well as sports and wellness. Wireless personal area networks, including body sensor networks, are becoming more mature and are considered to be a realistic alternative as communication infrastructure for demanding services. However, to transmit data from e.g., an ECG in wireless networks is also a challenge, especially if multiple sensors compete for access. Contention-based networks offer simplicity and utilization advantages, but the drawback is lack of predictable performance. Recipients of data sent in wireless sensor networks need to know whether they can trust the information or not. Performance measurements, monitoring and control is of crucial importance for medical and healthcare applications in wireless sensor networks. This thesis focuses on development, prototype implementation and evaluation of a performance management system with performance and admission control for wireless sensor networks. Furthermore, an implementation of a new method to compensate for clock drift between multiple wireless sensor nodes is also shown. Errors in time synchronization between nodes in Bluetooth networks, resulting in inadequate data fusion, are also analysed. / <p>QC 20120529</p>

Les systèmes électroniques embarqués dans les véhicules ont une complexité sans cesse croissante. Cependant, il est crucial d'en maîtriser le comportement temporel afin de garantir la sécurité ainsi que le confort des passagers. La vérification des contraintes temporelles de bout-en-bout est donc un enjeu majeur lors de la conception d'un véhicule. Dans le contexte de l'architecture logicielle AUTOSAR standard dans les véhicules, nous décomposons la vérification d'une contrainte de bout-en-bout en sous-problèmes d'ordonnancement sur les calculateurs et sur les réseaux de communication que nous traitons ensuite séparément. Dans un premier temps, nous présentons une approche permettant d'améliorer l'utilisation des calculateurs exécutant un grand nombre de composants logiciels, compatible avec l'introduction progressive des plateformes multi-coeurs. Nous décrivons des algorithmes rapides et efficaces pour lisser la charge périodique sur les calculateurs multi-coeurs en adaptant puis en améliorant une approche existant pour les bus CAN. Nous donnons également des résultats théoriques sur l'efficacité des algorithmes dans certains cas particuliers. Enfin, nous décrivons les possibilités d'utilisation de ces algorithmes en fonction des autres tâches exécutées sur le calculateur. La suite des travaux est consacrée à l'étude des distributions de temps de réponse des messages transmis sur les bus CAN. Dans un premier temps nous présentons une approche de simulation basée sur la modélisation des dérives d'horloges des calculateurs communicant sur le réseau. Nous montrons que nous obtenons des distributions de temps de réponse similaires en réalisant une longue simulation avec des dérives d'horloge ou en faisant un grand nombre de courtes simulations sans dérives d'horloge. Nous présentons enfin une technique analytique pour évaluer les distributions de temps de réponse des trames CAN. Nous présentons différents paramètres d'approximation permettant de réduire le nombre très important de calculs à effectuer en limitant la perte de précision. Enfin, nous comparons expérimentalement les résultats obtenus par analyse et simulation et décrivons les avantages et inconvénients respectifs de ces approches / The complexity of electronic embedded systems in cars is continuously growing. Hence, mastering the temporal behavior of such systems is paramount in order to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers. As a consequence, the verification of end-to-end real-time constraints is a major challenge during the design phase of a car. The AUTOSAR software architecture drives us to address the verification of end-to-end real-time constraints as two independent scheduling problems respectively for electronic control units and communication buses. First, we introduce an approach, which optimizes the utilization of controllers scheduling numerous software components that is compatible with the upcoming multicore architectures. We describe fast and efficient algorithms in order to balance the periodic load over time on multicore controllers by adapting and improving an existing approach used for the CAN networks. We provide theoretical result on the efficiency of the algorithms in some specific cases. Moreover, we describe how to use these algorithms in conjunction with other tasks scheduled on the controller. The remaining part of this research work addresses the problem of obtaining the response time distributions of the messages sent on a CAN network. First, we present a simulation approach based on the modelisation of clock drifts on the communicating nodes connected on the CAN network. We show that we obtain similar results with a single simulation using our approach in comparison with the legacy approach consisting in numerous short simulation runs without clock drifts. Then, we present an analytical approach in order to compute the response time distributions of the CAN frames. We introduce several approximation parameters to cope with the very high computational complexity of this approach while limiting the loss of accuracy. Finally, we compare experimentally the simulation and analytical approaches in order to discuss the relative advantages of each of the two approaches

A wireless sensor network is a distributed network system consisting of miniature spatially distributed autonomous devices designed for using sensors to sense the environment and cooperatively perform a specific goal. Each sensor node contains a limited power source, a sensor and a radio through which it can communicate with other sensor nodes within its communication radius. Since these sensor nodes may be deployed in inaccessible terrains, it might not be possible to replace their power sources. The radio transceiver is the hardware component that uses the most power in a sensor node and the optimisation of this element is necessary to reduce the overall energy consumption. In the data link layer there are several major sources of energy waste which should be minimised to achieve greater energy efficiency: idle listening, overhearing, over-emitting, network signalling overhead, and collisions. Sleep scheduling utilises the low-power sleep state of a transceiver and aims to reduce energy wastage caused by idle listening. Idle listening occurs when the radio is on, even though there is no data to transmit or receive. Collisions are reduced by using medium reservation and carrier sensing; collisions occur when there are simultaneous transmissions from several nodes that are within the interference range of the receiver node. The medium reservation packets include a network allocation vector field which is used for virtual carrier sensing which reduces overhearing. Overhearing occurs when a node receives and decodes packets that are not destined to it. Proper scheduling can avoid energy wastage due to over-emitting; over-emitting occurs when a transmitter node transmits a packet while the receiver node is not ready to receive packets. A protocol stack is proposed that achieves an ultra-low duty cycle sleep schedule. The protocol stack is aimed at large nodal populations, densely deployed, with periodic sampling applications. It uses the IEEE 802.15.4 Physical Layer (PHY) standard in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. A novel hybrid data-link/network cross-layer solution is proposed using the following features: a global sleep schedule, geographical data gathering tree, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) slotted architecture, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA), Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) with a randomised contention window, adaptive listening using a conservative timeout activation mechanism, virtual carrier sensing, clock drift compensation, and error control. AFRIKAANS : 'n Draadlose sensor-netwerk is 'n verspreide netwerk stelsel wat bestaan uit miniatuur ruimtelik verspreide outonome toestelle wat ontwerp is om in harmonie saam die omgewing te meet. Elke sensor nodus besit 'n beperkte bron van energie, 'n sensor en 'n radio waardeur dit met ander sensor nodusse binne hulle kommunikasie radius kan kommunikeer. Aangesien hierdie sensor nodusse in ontoeganklike terreine kan ontplooi word, is dit nie moontlik om hulle kragbronne te vervang nie. Die radio is die hardeware komponent wat van die meeste krag gebruik in 'n sensor nodus en die optimalisering van hierdie element is noodsaaklik vir die verminder die totale energieverbruik. In die data-koppelvlak laag is daar verskeie bronne van energie vermorsing wat minimaliseer moet word: ydele luister, a uistering, oor-uitstraling, oorhoofse netwerk seine, en botsings. Slaap-skedulering maak gebruik van die lae-krag slaap toestand van 'n radio met die doel om energie vermorsing wat veroorsaak word deur ydele luister, te verminder. Ydele luister vind plaas wanneer die radio aan is selfs al is daar geen data om te stuur of ontvang nie. Botsings word verminder deur medium bespreking en draer deteksie; botsings vind plaas wanneer verskeie nodusse gelyktydig data stuur. Die medium bespreking pakkies sluit 'n netwerk aanwysing vektor veld in wat gebruik word vir virtuele draer deteksie om a uistering te verminder. Afluistering vind plaas wanneer 'n nodus 'n pakkie ontvang en dekodeer maar dit was vir 'n ander nodus bedoel. Behoorlike skedulering kan energie verkwisting as gevolg van oor-uistraling verminder; oor-uistraling gebeur wanneer 'n sender nodus 'n pakkie stuur terwyl die ontvang nog nie gereed is nie. 'n Protokol stapel is voorgestel wat 'n ultra-lae slaap-skedule dienssiklus het. Die protokol is gemik op draadlose sensor-netwerke wat dig ontplooi, groot hoeveelhede nodusse bevat, en met periodiese toetsing toepassings. Dit maak gebruik van die IEEE 802.15.4 Fisiese-Laag standaard in die 2.4 GHz frekwensie band. 'n Nuwe baster datakoppelvlak/netwerk laag oplossing is voorgestel met die volgende kenmerke: globale slaap-skedulering, geogra ese data rapportering, Tyd-Verdeling-Veelvuldige-Toegang (TVVT) gegleufde argitektuur, Draer-Deteksie-Veelvuldige-Toegang met Botsing-Vermyding (DDVT/BV), Skoon-Kanaal-Assessering (SKA) met 'n wisselvallige twis-tydperk, aanpasbare slaap-skedulering met 'n konserwatiewe aktiverings meganisme, virtuele draer-deteksie, klok-wegdrywing kompensasie, en fout beheer. Copyright / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted