Projecte ofert
Títol: GNSS-Aided Synchronization for Infrastructure-Free Disaster Communication Networks
Per assignar-vos el projecte us heu de dirigir al director/a perquè us l'assigni.
Director/a: ALONSO ZÁRATE, LUIS
Departament: TSC
Títol: GNSS-Aided Synchronization for Infrastructure-Free Disaster Communication Networks
Data inici oferta: 17-02-2026 Data finalització oferta: 17-10-2026
Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
GR ENG SIS TELECOMUN- GR ENG SIST AEROESP
- GR ENG TELEMÀTICA
| Tipus: Individual | |
| Lloc de realització: EETAC | |
| Paraules clau: | |
| GNSS, Networks | |
| Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats: | |
| The objective of this project is to design and evaluate a distributed GNSS-aided synchronization framework tailored for infrastructure-free disaster communication networks.
Unlike SFN broadcasting systems, where GNSS ensures that inter-transmitter signals arrive within the cyclic prefix duration under static deployment, the proposed framework aims to maintain temporal coherence across a dynamic multi-hop network. In the state-of-the-art, synchronization is primarily a transmission alignment problem in engineered networks. In contrast, this project treats synchronization as a network survivability and coordination problem in mobile, self-organizing environments. The main goals are: ' To analyze existing GNSS-based synchronization mechanisms used in OFDM broadcasting systems. ' To identify their limitations in decentralized and mobile disaster scenarios. ' To develop a distributed architecture combining absolute GNSS timing with local offset estimation and adaptive correction. ' To evaluate the impact of synchronization accuracy on latency, throughput, and reliability under disaster conditions. Simulation Environment Setup: A simulation framework will be developed using MATLAB or NS-3 to model nodes equipped with GNSS timing modules. The system will incorporate realistic impairments such as clock drift, GNSS timing uncertainty, variable propagation delay, and node mobility. Unlike SFN systems with fixed transmitter spacing, the simulated disaster network will allow dynamic node placement and multi-hop communication. In addition to direct GNSS-based synchronization, peer-assisted timing correction will be evaluated for scenarios where satellite visibility is degraded. Channel environments: - 1. Urban Disaster Environment Severe multipath propagation, interference, and partial GNSS visibility due to collapsed infrastructure. Key parameters: synchronization accuracy, latency, packet error rate. 2. Rural Disaster Environment Long-distance communication with relatively clear GNSS reception. Key parameters: timing precision, throughput stability, and network robustness. 3. Indoor or Sheltered Environment Limited or blocked GNSS signals requiring cooperative synchronization among neighbouring nodes. Key parameters: adaptability, resilience, and recovery time after GNSS degradation. Performance Evaluation: - Performance will be assessed using: ' Synchronization error ' End-to-end delay ' Throughput ' Packet error rate ' Network reconfiguration time A comparative analysis will be conducted between: 1. Conventional distributed clock-based synchronization methods. 2. Pure GNSS-based alignment approaches similar to those used in OFDM SFN broadcasting systems. 3. The proposed adaptive GNSS-aided distributed framework. This comparison will explicitly demonstrate how synchronization designed for fixed transmission alignment differs from synchronization required to sustain coordinated operation in infrastructure-free disaster communication networks. References: - [1] Wang, M., Zhu, Z., Koo, K.Y. et al. GNSS time-synchronised wireless vision sensor network for structural health monitoring. J Civil Struct Health Monit 15, 2725-2747 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13349-025-00953-7 [2] K. F. Hasan, Y. Feng and Y. -C. Tian, "Precise GNSS Time Synchronization With Experimental Validation in Vehicular Networks," in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 3289-3301, Sept. 2023, doi: 10.1109/TNSM.2022.3228078. [3] Bakasanga, Emeka & Shlezinger, Nir & Dabora, Ron. (2022). Deep-Learning-Aided Distributed Clock Synchronization for Wireless Networks. 10.48550/arXiv.2206.12097 |
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| Orientació a l'estudiant: | |
| Aquest TFG és part d'una tesi doctoral. La direcció efectiva la farà l'estudiant de doctorat, Rizwan Ashfaq, amb la meva supervisió acadèmica. Per més informació escriure a rizwan.ashfaq@upc.edu | |
| Requereix activitats hardware: No | |
| Requereix activitats software: Sí Sistema operatiu: Disc (Gb): | |
| Horari d'atenció a estudiants per a l'assignació de projecte: TFG ja assignat a una estudiant |
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