Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41977906›Full record

ArticleSensors (Basel, Switzerland)2026

RTOS-Integrated Time Synchronization for Self-Deployable Wireless Sensor Networks.

Sarah Goossens, Valentijn De Smedt, Lieven De Strycker, Liesbet Van der Perre

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Sarah GoossensWaveCore, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Ghent Campus, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-7525-1179
Valentijn De SmedtECS, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, 2440 Geel, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-6385-253X
Lieven De StryckerWaveCore, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Ghent Campus, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-8172-9650
Liesbet Van der PerreWaveCore, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Ghent Campus, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-9158-9628

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) remains challenging and time consuming due to the manual commissioning, configuration, and maintenance of resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Achieving precise network-wide time synchronization in such systems further increases this deployment complexity. This paper presents a novel Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)-integrated time synchronization method that distributes an absolute Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) reference across the network using a single Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-enabled host. The method extends the semantics of the RTOS tick count by directly linking it to a global time reference. Consequently, sensor nodes obtain a notion of UTC time and can execute time-critical tasks at precisely defined moments without requiring a dedicated Real-Time Clock (RTC) or GNSS module on each sensor node. This design reduces both hardware cost and overall system complexity. Experimental results obtained on custom-developed hardware running FreeRTOS demonstrate a task synchronization error below ±30 μs between the GNSS reference and a sensor node operating at a clock frequency of 32 MHz. Such precise network-wide synchronization enables more efficient channel utilization, reduces power consumption, and improves the accuracy of both local and coordinated task execution across multiple devices in WSNs. It therefore serves as a key enabler for self-deployable WSNs.

Indexed as

FreeRTOSInternet of ThingsLoRatime synchronizationwireless sensor networks

Identifiers

PMID41977906
PMCPMC13074925

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.