Synchronization is crucial to wireless sensor networks due to their decentralized structure. We propose an energy-efficient pulse-coupled synchronization strategy to achieve this goal. The basic idea is to reduce idle listening by intentionally introducing a large refractory period in the sensors' cooperation. The large refractory period greatly reduces idle listening in each oscillation period, and is analytically proven to have no influence on the time to synchronization. Hence, it significantly reduces the total energy consumption in a synchronization process. A topology control approach tailored for pulse-coupled synchronization is given to guarantee a k-edge strongly connected interaction topology, which is tolerant to communication-link failures. The topology control approach is totally decentralized and needs no information exchange among sensors, and it is applicable to dynamic network topologies as well. This facilitates a completely decentralized implementation of the synchronization strategy. The strategy is applicable to mobile sensor networks, too. QualNet case studies confirm the effectiveness of the synchronization strategy.

中文翻译：

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通过减少空闲监听的无线传感器网络节能脉冲耦合同步策略设计

由于无线传感器网络的分散结构，同步对于无线传感器网络至关重要。我们提出了一种节能的脉冲耦合同步策略来实现这一目标。基本思想是通过在传感器的合作中有意引入较大的不应期来减少空闲监听。大的不应期大大减少了每个振荡周期的空闲监听，并且经分析证明对同步时间没有影响。因此，它显着降低了同步过程中的总能耗。给出了一种为脉冲耦合同步量身定制的拓扑控制方法，以保证 k 边强连接的交互拓扑，它可以容忍通信链路故障。拓扑控制方法是完全分散的，不需要传感器之间的信息交换，也适用于动态网络拓扑。这有利于同步策略的完全分散的实施。该策略也适用于移动传感器网络。QualNet 案例研究证实了同步策略的有效性。