On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks

Eren Curuk; Kasm Sinan Yldrm; Przemysaw Pawecz; Josiah Hester

doi:10.1145/3362053.3363497

On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks

Eren Curuk^*, Kasm Sinan Yldrm, Przemysaw Pawecz, Josiah Hester

^*Corresponding author for this work

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Batteryless sensor nodes compute, sense, and communicate using only energy harvested from the ambient. These devices promise long maintenance free operation in hard to deploy scenarios, making them an attractive alternative to battery-powered wireless sensor networks. However, complications from frequent power failures due to unpredictable ambient energy stand in the way of robust network operation. Unlike continuously-powered systems, intermittently-powered batteryless nodes lose their time upon each reboot, along with all volatile memory, making synchronization and coordination difficult. In this paper, we consider the case where each batteryless sensor is equipped with a hourglass capacitor to estimate the elapsed time between power failures. Contrary to prior work that focused on providing a continuous notion of time for a single batteryless sensor, we consider a network of batteryless sensors and explore how to provide a network-wide, continuous, and synchronous notion of time. First, we build a mathematical model that represents the estimated time between power failures by using hourglass capacitors. This allowed us to simulate the local (and continuous) time of a single batteryless node. Second, we show through simulations the effect of hourglass capacitors and in turn the performance degradation of the state of the art synchronization protocol in wireless sensor networks in a network of batteryless devices.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages	35-41
Number of pages	7
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450370103
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3362053.3363497
State	Published - Nov 10 2019
Event	7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems, ENSsys 2019, co-located with ACM SenSys 2019 - New York, United States Duration: Nov 10 2019 → …

Publication series

Name	ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems

Conference

Conference	7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems, ENSsys 2019, co-located with ACM SenSys 2019
Country/Territory	United States
City	New York
Period	11/10/19 → …

Funding

We would like to thank our anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticism. We express our gratitude to Carlo Delle Donne for helpful brainstorming during the project. Dr. Pawełczak is supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, partly funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, under TTW Perspectief program ZERO (P15-06) within Project P4. Dr. Hes-ter is supported by the National Science Foundation under award number CNS-1850496. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the sponsors.

Keywords

Hourglass clocks
Intermittent computing
Sensor networks

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Science Applications
Fuel Technology
Energy Engineering and Power Technology

Access to Document

10.1145/3362053.3363497

Cite this

Curuk, E., Yldrm, K. S., Pawecz, P., & Hester, J. (2019). On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks. In ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems (pp. 35-41). (ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1145/3362053.3363497

Curuk, Eren ; Yldrm, Kasm Sinan ; Pawecz, Przemysaw et al. / On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks. ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2019. pp. 35-41 (ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems).

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title = "On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks",

abstract = "Batteryless sensor nodes compute, sense, and communicate using only energy harvested from the ambient. These devices promise long maintenance free operation in hard to deploy scenarios, making them an attractive alternative to battery-powered wireless sensor networks. However, complications from frequent power failures due to unpredictable ambient energy stand in the way of robust network operation. Unlike continuously-powered systems, intermittently-powered batteryless nodes lose their time upon each reboot, along with all volatile memory, making synchronization and coordination difficult. In this paper, we consider the case where each batteryless sensor is equipped with a hourglass capacitor to estimate the elapsed time between power failures. Contrary to prior work that focused on providing a continuous notion of time for a single batteryless sensor, we consider a network of batteryless sensors and explore how to provide a network-wide, continuous, and synchronous notion of time. First, we build a mathematical model that represents the estimated time between power failures by using hourglass capacitors. This allowed us to simulate the local (and continuous) time of a single batteryless node. Second, we show through simulations the effect of hourglass capacitors and in turn the performance degradation of the state of the art synchronization protocol in wireless sensor networks in a network of batteryless devices.",

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author = "Eren Curuk and Yldrm, {Kasm Sinan} and Przemysaw Pawecz and Josiah Hester",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank our anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticism. We express our gratitude to Carlo Delle Donne for helpful brainstorming during the project. Dr. Pawe{\l}czak is supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, partly funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, under TTW Perspectief program ZERO (P15-06) within Project P4. Dr. Hes-ter is supported by the National Science Foundation under award number CNS-1850496. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the sponsors. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.; 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems, ENSsys 2019, co-located with ACM SenSys 2019 ; Conference date: 10-11-2019",

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Curuk, E, Yldrm, KS, Pawecz, P & Hester, J 2019, On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks. in ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems. ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, pp. 35-41, 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems, ENSsys 2019, co-located with ACM SenSys 2019, New York, United States, 11/10/19. https://doi.org/10.1145/3362053.3363497

On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks. / Curuk, Eren; Yldrm, Kasm Sinan; Pawecz, Przemysaw et al.
ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2019. p. 35-41 (ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank our anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticism. We express our gratitude to Carlo Delle Donne for helpful brainstorming during the project. Dr. Pawełczak is supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, partly funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, under TTW Perspectief program ZERO (P15-06) within Project P4. Dr. Hes-ter is supported by the National Science Foundation under award number CNS-1850496. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the sponsors. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.

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Curuk E, Yldrm KS, Pawecz P, Hester J. On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks. In ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 2019. p. 35-41. (ENSsys 2019 - Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Energy Harvesting and Energy-Neutral Sensing Systems). doi: 10.1145/3362053.3363497

On the accuracy of network synchronization using persistent hourglass clocks

Abstract

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Conference

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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