Accurate anchor-free node localization in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in the applications of wireless sensor networks in unattended environments. In such applications, sensor nodes are usually deployed randomly in an area of interest. Knowledge of accurate node location is essential in order to correlate the gathered data to the origin of the sensed phenomena and assure the relevance of the reported information. In this paper, we present an efficient anchor-free protocol for localization in wireless sensor networks. Each node discovers its neighbors that are within its transmission range and estimates their ranges. Our algorithm fuses local range measurements in order to form a network wide unified coordinate systems while minimizing the overhead incurred at the deployed sensors. Scalability is achieved through grouping sensors into clusters. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol achieves precise localization of sensors and maintains consistent error margins.