NeighbourCast: A synchronisation algorithm for wireless ad hoc networks

This paper presents a synchronisation algorithm for wire less ad hoc networks called NeighbourCast. The major requirements we impose on the algorithm are a short convergence time, low battery consumption which is achieved by low collision and low channel contention, minimum net work overhead, and a distributed approach. We achieve these by restricting the synchronisation related communication of nodes to only their immediate neighbours. Finally, in order to validate the algorithm a set of simulation results are reported. The results match the maximum clock offset achieved by previous research. We show that this algorithm achieves lower battery consumption by showing that the order of packets sent and received per node is smaller for NeighbourCast than earlier research. We also demonstrate low channel contention and collision probabilities for the proposed algorithm.