A wireless sensor network comprising: a wireless node including a sensor, a transceiver, a battery, and a timing circuit, wherein the timing circuit includes a duty cycle including a sleep duration during which the wireless node is in a low-power state and a wake duration during which the wireless node is in an active state, wherein during the active state the wireless node is configured to receive a polling request by the transceiver, generate sensor data by the sensor, and transmit the sensor data by the transceiver; a data controller including a reference clock, the data controller configured to transmit a plurality of polling requests to the transceiver of the wireless node, the plurality of polling requests including the polling request received by the transceiver during the active state, wherein the plurality of polling requests are transmitted according to a polling request schedule, the data controller further configured to receive the sensor data transmitted by the transceiver and generate a receipt time for the sensor data by the reference clock; and a network manager , the network manager configured to bi-directionally communicate with the data controller, the network manager further configured to transmit a first configuration message to the data controller for initializing the data controller and the wireless node, and characterized in that the network manager is further configured to adaptively generate the polling request schedule for the plurality of polling requests based on at least the receipt time, the sleep duration of the wireless node, and a tolerance of the timing circuit. a wireless node including a sensor, a transceiver, a battery, and a timing circuit, wherein the timing circuit includes a duty cycle including a sleep duration during which the wireless node is in a low-power state and a wake duration during which the wireless node is in an active state, wherein during the active state the wireless node is configured to receive a polling request by the transceiver, generate sensor data by the sensor, and transmit the sensor data by the transceiver; a data controller including a reference clock, the data controller configured to transmit a plurality of polling requests to the transceiver of the wireless node, the plurality of polling requests including the polling request received by the transceiver during the active state, wherein the plurality of polling requests are transmitted according to a polling request schedule, the data controller further configured to receive the sensor data transmitted by the transceiver and generate a receipt time for the sensor data by the reference clock; and a network manager , the network manager configured to bi-directionally communicate with the data controller, the network manager further configured to transmit a first configuration message to the data controller for initializing the data controller and the wireless node, and characterized in that the network manager is further configured to adaptively generate the polling request schedule for the plurality of polling requests based on at least the receipt time, the sleep duration of the wireless node, and a tolerance of the timing circuit. <EOS>