Robust Localization System Using Vector Combination in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

This paper proposes a vector-based localization system that uses both distance and angle information. In wireless sensor networks, the positions of nodes are commonly determined by a range-based localization system using distance information. If both distance and angle information are available, it is possible to improve the accuracy of estimating the positions of nodes compared to a positioning system with only distance information. Existing studies using distance and angle information assume that all the nodes are directly connected to one another and do not consider a method for measuring angle information between the nodes that are not directly connected. However, this assumption may not be valid for real-world wireless sensor networks especially with a large number of nodes having a limited communication range. The proposed localization algorithm solves this problem by a vector combination that transforms the vectors on the local coordinate system to the network-wide global coordinate system. The proposed algorithm is shown to be robust especially even in a network with 1-edge connectivity. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has up to 70% higher positioning accuracy compared to the existing iterative range-based algorithm such as MDS-MAP(C,R).