Wireless clock synchronization: A comprehensive survey and taxonomy

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dc.contributor.authorSeliem, Mohamed
dc.contributor.authorRoedig, Utz
dc.contributor.authorAhmed, Mahin
dc.contributor.authorMuzaffar, Raheeb
dc.contributor.authorHamidovic, Damir
dc.contributor.authorHadziaganovic, Armin
dc.contributor.authorSreenan, Cormac J.
dc.contributor.authorPesch, Dirk
dc.contributor.funderTaighde Éireann - Research Ireland
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-15T09:50:04Z
dc.date.available2026-07-15T09:50:04Z
dc.date.issued2026-07-02
dc.description© 2026, the Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
dc.description.abstractPrecise clock synchronization underpins deterministic operation in wireless systems spanning industrial automation, vehicular networks, distributed extended reality (XR), smart infrastructure, and wide-area precision agriculture. Wireless links introduce variable propagation delays, channel asymmetry, interference, clock drift, and scalability constraints that make sub-microsecond alignment difficult. This article provides a comprehensive survey and tutorial on wireless clock synchronization. We introduce a five-dimension taxonomy covering: system architecture, synchronization mechanism, correction strategy, delay and uncertainty modeling, and resource and deployment class, and apply it to eight canonical protocol families and to synchronization as realized across IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Bluetooth low energy (BLE), LoRa, Wi-Fi, Ultrawide band (UWB), and 4G/5G/6G systems. We examine solutions across five application domains: industrial automation and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), vehicular V2X, distributed XR and metaverse, infrastructure monitoring, and wide-area Internet of Things (IoT) and precision agriculture; alongside tools, testbeds, and datasets supporting evaluation. Open challenges addressed include scalability and mobility, ultralow-jitter determinism, robust clock parameter estimation under non-Gaussian delay distributions, distributed and consensus-based synchronization for infrastructure-free networks, secure and resilient synchronization against wireless-specific threats, and cross-domain convergence encompassing time-sensitive networking (TSN)–5G/6G interoperability and joint communication, sensing, and timing as an emerging 6G design paradigm. Together, these contributions provide the first unified cross-technology framework connecting fundamentals, protocol families, application domains, and open research challenges in wireless clock synchronization.en
dc.description.sponsorshipTaighde Éireann—Research Ireland|13/RC/2077_P2
dc.format.extent36
dc.format.extent4573401
dc.identifier.authororcidSeliem, Mohamed§0000-0002-2132-9249
dc.identifier.authororcidRoedig, Utz§0000-0002-4020-0889
dc.identifier.authororcidAhmed, Mahin
dc.identifier.authororcidMuzaffar, Raheeb
dc.identifier.authororcidHamidovic, Damir
dc.identifier.authororcidHadziaganovic, Armin
dc.identifier.authororcidSreenan, Cormac J.§0000-0002-0767-7888
dc.identifier.authororcidPesch, Dirk§0000-0001-9706-5705
dc.identifier.citationSeliem, M, Roedig, U, Ahmed, M, Muzaffar, R, Hamidovic, D, Hadziaganovic, A, Sreenan, C J & Pesch, D 2026, 'Wireless clock synchronization: A comprehensive survey and taxonomy', Proceedings of the IEEE, pp. 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2026.3705899
dc.identifier.doi10.1109/JPROC.2026.3705899
dc.identifier.endpage36
dc.identifier.issn0018-9219
dc.identifier.journaltitleProceedings of the IEEE
dc.identifier.othercrossref: 10.1109/JPROC.2026.3705899
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-2132-9249/work/220835166
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0001-9706-5705/work/220835621
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-4020-0889/work/220835714
dc.identifier.startpage1
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19072
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightscc_by
dc.subjectSDG 2 - Zero Hunger
dc.subjectSDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
dc.subject5G/6G
dc.subjectClock synchronization
dc.subjectDistributed systems
dc.subjectTime-sensitive networking (TSN)
dc.subjectWireless sensor networks (WSNs)
dc.subjectWireless synchronization
dc.subject[ComputerScience]
dc.titleWireless clock synchronization: A comprehensive survey and taxonomyen
dc.typeArticle (Peer reviewed)
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