Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks with Mobile Anchor Node Path Planning Mechanism

Abstract

Determining the accurate locations of randomly deployed sensors in a given geographical region is a critical problem in the field of Wireless Sensor Networks. Various approaches have been proposed in the past to tackle this problem. Most of the existing techniques rely on the use of a beacon node which traverses throughout the region with limited power sources. Sensors use the beacon node positions for self localization. The trajectory of the beacon node has an influence on the accuracy, time and efficiency of the localization algorithm. In this paper, we propose Cosine Rule based Localization (CRL) algorithm for static trajectories of the mobile beacon node. Existing schemes use trilateration for position estimation of sensor nodes. The proposed method uses the Cosine rule on received beacon positions and distances obtained from RSSI in such a way that lines representing distances intersect at one point for the application of the Cosine rule. Simulation results reveal that CRL enables the unknown sensors to locate themselves with better accuracy in comparison with the existing trilateration technique for all the trajectories.