Research and development on aspects of clock synchronization in a wireless sensor network

Sensor networks are an example of a wireless network that needs each sensor to execute events in synchronization. This synchronization is necessary to coordinate power cycles to conserve energy and to ensure the proper functioning of sensors that measure time-sensitive events. Clock synchronization is important to the operation of each distributed wireless sensor network (WSN) because it sets a common time limit to different sensor nodes. This paper aims to review the fundamental aspects of the deafness problem, which is the main problem of clock synchronization for WSNs. Deafness occurs when sensor nodes could not receive and transmit simultaneously. Synchronization can be achieved based on data collected from WSNs. Synchronization-based data gathering is geared towards maintaining and optimizing energy efficiency for time data collection in sensor nodes. This study serves as a useful source on clock synchronization to assist WSN researchers and novices to gain a better understanding of the deafness problem and to promote effective designs and systems that address this problem.