论文标题
无线网络的深度学习辅助分布时钟同步
Deep-Learning-Aided Distributed Clock Synchronization for Wireless Networks
论文作者
论文摘要
在过去的几十年中,无线通信网络的扩散,再加上无线频谱的稀缺性,激发了巨大的努力,以增加无线网络的吞吐量。限制无线通信网络中吞吐量的主要因素之一是网络中节点之间的时间同步的准确性,因为较高的吞吐量需要更高的同步精度。现有的时间同步方案,尤其是基于脉冲耦合振荡器(PCOS)的方法(PCOS),这是当前工作的重点,具有简单实现的优势,并且当节点紧密位置时实现了高精度,但往往可以实现较差的远距离节点同步性能。在这项研究中,我们提出了一种强大的基于PCO的时间同步算法,该算法保留了现有方法的简单结构,同时可靠地操作远处和紧密位置的节点。这是通过与可以以分布式方式训练的深度学习工具来增强基于PCO的同步,从而使节点可以训练其同步算法中的神经网络组成部分,而无需额外的信息交换或中央协调。数值结果表明,我们提出的深度学习辅助方案对于由于在大面积上的部署以及相对时钟频率偏移而引起的传播延迟非常强大。还表明,所提出的方法迅速达到了无线网络中所有节点的完整(即时钟频率和相位)同步,而基于经典的模型实现则却没有。
The proliferation of wireless communications networks over the past decades, combined with the scarcity of the wireless spectrum, have motivated a significant effort towards increasing the throughput of wireless networks. One of the major factors which limits the throughput in wireless communications networks is the accuracy of the time synchronization between the nodes in the network, as a higher throughput requires higher synchronization accuracy. Existing time synchronization schemes, and particularly, methods based on pulse-coupled oscillators (PCOs), which are the focus of the current work, have the advantage of simple implementation and achieve high accuracy when the nodes are closely located, yet tend to achieve poor synchronization performance for distant nodes. In this study, we propose a robust PCO-based time synchronization algorithm which retains the simple structure of existing approaches while operating reliably and converging quickly for both distant and closely located nodes. This is achieved by augmenting PCO-based synchronization with deep learning tools that are trainable in a distributed manner, thus allowing the nodes to train their neural network component of the synchronization algorithm without requiring additional exchange of information or central coordination. The numerical results show that our proposed deep learning-aided scheme is notably robust to propagation delays resulting from deployments over large areas, and to relative clock frequency offsets. It is also shown that the proposed approach rapidly attains full (i.e., clock frequency and phase) synchronization for all nodes in the wireless network, while the classic model-based implementation does not.