Abstract: Time synchronization and distance measurement are the infrastructure for any distributed system including wireless sensor networks. Time synchronization methods rely on some sort of message exchange between nodes, the same to distance estimation. Although many researchers have investigated time synchronization or distance measurement, but little work has been published on the relationship between them. Time synchronization is a prerequisite for conventional distance measurement and directly affects the accuracy of distance measurement in wireless sensor networks. In order to eliminate the restriction of time synchronization for distance measurement and expand the scope of distance measurement application, the authors present a coordinated algorithm for time synchronization and distance measurement (CATSDM) by backward analyzing the meaning of asynchronous paired ranging, which can realize not only time synchronization but also relative ranging and even absolute ranging. It combines time difference of arrivals ranging mechanism and network time protocols synchronization principle. The task of TDOA is to correct time skew. The task of NTP is to correct time offset. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show it outperforms in terms of robustness, accuracy and the number of message exchange than TPSN (timing-syn protocol for sensor network) and RBS (reference broadcast synchronization).