Time synchronization in heterogeneous wireless networks

In addition to theoretical study in statistical physics, synchronization in large heterogeneous networks has always been a technology challenge, due to lacking of common infrastructure and interface. However, misalignment of timing can significantly degrade the performance. In light of existing algorithms failing to effectively respond to node failure in timing, we develop an improved voter algorithm for network time synchronization enabling reliable synchronization in heterogeneous wireless networks. We further apply this improved algorithm to femtocells in LTE-A systems to successfully confine the timing errors in a more effective way.