A common assumption of TDMA-based wireless ad hoc networks is the existence of network-wide slot synchronization. Such a mechanism is difficult to support in practice. In asynchronous TDMA systems, each link uses a local time slot reference provided by the hardware clock tick of one of the node endpoints. Inevitably, slots are wasted when nodes switch time slot references. This restricts the rate allocations that can be supported when compared to a perfectly synchronized system. We address this performance issue for Bluetooth, a wireless technology that operates according to the asynchronous TDMA communication paradigm. We introduce scheduling algorithms that not only guarantee upper bounds on the generated overhead but also target its minimization.
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