Multi-Agent Platform in WSAN Applications: A Time Synchronization Perspective

Research on wireless sensor and actuator networks has attracted considerable attention in the past few years. When dealing with monitoring and control over these infrastructures in industrial environments, distributed artificial intelligence techniques, under the form of agents, can be used to improve performance, in terms of autonomy, adaptability and robustness. In this context, synchronization of nodes’ clocks is critical for the overall system performance. The paper focuses on developing a wireless sensor network multi-agent based architecture. A particular topology is proposed and general features and requirements for mobile agents described, namely, tasks and services, as well as communication and coordination mechanisms. In order to cope with offset and skew of nodes’ internal clocks a solution is proposed based on message transmissions between two nodes.