Enhancing Time Synchronization for Home Automation Systems

Abstract

Clock synchronization techniques are in highly demand for smart home applications with the approach of the Internet of Things (IoT). The developing innovation of smart home applications built on the Internet of Things is generally constrained and scattered. Synchronization is the basic characteristic of the emerging field of IoT in smart home applications which is recommended for improving the acceptance and its use. For the clock synchronization between systems, Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used. But due to inconsistent routing and limited computing resources there can be the dominant source of error that limits time transfer uncertainty. This paper proposes an Elastic Timer Protocol for home automation system networks that performs better in terms of consumption of energy and time of convergence than other clock synchronization protocols. The proposed protocol improves the elasticity and efficiency of the network, resulting in a faster network convergence time. Furthermore, simulation results revealed that the proposed work has improved performance metrics and proved superior performance characteristics when compared to standard synchronization protocols.