Localization Algorithms in Wireless Sensor Networks: Current Approaches and Future Challenges

Abstract

Recent advances in radio and embedded systems have enabled the proliferation of wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor networks are tremendously being used in different environments to perform various monitoring tasks such as search, rescue, disaster relief, target tracking and a number of tasks in smart environments. In many such tasks, node localization is inherently one of the system parameters. Node localization is required to report the origin of events, assist group querying of sensors, routing and to answer questions on the network coverage. So, one of the fundamental challenges in wireless sensor network is node localization. This paper reviews different approaches of node localization discovery in wireless sensor networks. The overview of the schemes proposed by different scholars for the improvement of localization in wireless sensor networks is also presented. Future research directions and challenges for improving node localization in wireless sensor networks are also discussed.