An Adaptive Hybrid Control Algorithm for Sender-Receiver Clock Synchronization

TL;DR

This paper introduces an adaptive hybrid control algorithm that combines traditional sender-receiver clock synchronization with an online strategy, ensuring exponential convergence of clock rates in networked systems.

Contribution

It develops a hybrid systems framework integrating adaptive control with sender-receiver synchronization, providing design conditions for guaranteed convergence.

Findings

Achieves exponential synchronization of clocks over a network.

Provides a hybrid system model capturing continuous and impulsive dynamics.

Ensures attractivity of the synchronization set under certain conditions.

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative hybrid systems approach to the sender-receiver synchronization of timers. Via the hybrid systems framework, we unite the traditional sender-receiver algorithm for clock synchronization with an online, adaptive strategy to achieve synchronization of the clock rates to exponentially synchronize a pair of clocks connected over a network. Following the conventions of the algorithm, clock measurements of the nodes are given at periodic time instants, and each node uses these measurements to achieve synchronization. For this purpose, we introduce a hybrid system model of a network with continuous and impulsive dynamics that captures the sender-receiver algorithm as a state-feedback controller to synchronize the network clocks. Moreover, we provide sufficient design conditions that ensure attractivity of the synchronization set.