Edge Computing-Based ERBS Time Synchronization Algorithm in WSNs

• Main Authors: Xianbo Sun, Yixin Su, Yong Huang, Jianjun Tan, Jinqiao Yi, Tao Hu, Li Zhu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi-Wiley 2020-01-01
• Series: Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/8840367

In the practical application of large-scale photovoltaic module monitoring, adopting wireless sensor network (WSN) technology is a method worth researching. With increasing nodes in the wireless sensor network, widely existing clock skew, increased geometrically, is bringing about greater energy consumption. Due to the random distribution of nodes, in order to improve the transmission efficiency and reduce the computational load of the coordinator, the node processor needs to the use edge computing for preliminary analysis. This paper puts forward an improved energy-efficient reference broadcast synchronization algorithm (ERBS). This algorithm firstly calculates the average phase offset of nonadjacent nodes in the network after receiving a message. It then uses the least square method to solve the clock skew to achieve high-precision synchronization of the whole network. Simulation results show that compared with RBS, the time synchronization precision of ERBS is greatly improved and synchronization times are greatly reduced, decreasing energy consumption significantly.