A Localization and k-Connectivity Detection System for TinyOS based Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Localization and connectivity detection are two important topics in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In localization problem the aim is finding the position of mobile or static nodes with unknown coordinates. The purpose of the k -connectivity problem is to find the number of nodes whose removal destroys the connectivity of the network. In this paper, we have designed and implemented a localization and k -connectivity detection system. The proposed system uses trilateration approach to find the up to date locations of nodes where the trilateration method uses the messages from anchor nodes. In our system, the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) values of transmitted messages are used to estimate the distance between nodes. Using the proposed system, nodes can estimate their locations after receiving messages from at least 3 anchor nodes. The exchanged message and detected positions are snooped by the sink node, transferred to a Java program and presented to the user on GUIs. To find the latest connectivity statuses of a network, a k -connectivity testing algorithm periodically is run on the current detected topology from incoming messages. The proposed system has been tested with MEMSIC-IRIS motes and supports all WSNs which use TinyOS based motes. This system can be used as an infrastructure for various applications in WSNs.