Synchronization of multihop ad hoc networks using connected dominating sets

Network synchronization of flat multihop ad hoc networks is considerably different from conventional systems that are usually hierarchically organized. Lately, connected dominating sets (CDSs) are used in ad hoc networks to structure even larger scaled topographies into smaller portions. While these virtual infrastructures are initially utilized for efficient flooding or routing purposes, this paper presents a global network synchronization scheme that also uses a CDS in order to synchronize network members in an efficient manner. An extension to the predictive timer synchronization function (PTSF) is presented that has been tailored to this specific application and allows to synchronize even widely distributed systems by supporting multihop operation