Slot Synchronization in Ad Hoc Networks Based on Frequency Hopping Synchronization

To realize time division multiple access (TDMA) in ad hoc networks, a new slot synchronization scheme based on frequency hopping (FH) synchronization was proposed. In this scheme, every node in the network uses a slot counter to position slots. By compensating the time when the separator is detected with the estimated delays, the receiver´s slot counter can synchronize to the sender´s. Guard intervals are used in nodes to avoid collisions caused by the synchronization error. As the proposed scheme can avoid transmitting concrete time information in the network, the channel utilization can be improved. Simulation results show that the channel utilization of the proposed scheme is higher than other schemes. Moreover, this scheme has a small synchronization error and only needs a short time period to realize the initial slot synchronization. Therefore, it can be applied to real ad hoc networks