Multiple-access insights from bounds on sensor localization

Abstract

In ad hoc location-aware sensor networks, unlocalized sensors can estimate their locations based on the triangulation of range measurements from location-aware sensors or “anchors”, whose locations are known or estimated a priori. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between multiple-access design parameters and the accuracy of location estimation in ad hoc sensor networks. Bounds on the average localization accuracy in a packet-based sensor network with time-of-arrival (TOA) based distance estimation are used to investigate the connection between the average effective throughput of packets and the average localization accuracy. On this basis, we (i) develop an analytical framework that allows us to analyze the relationship between network parameters and the average localization accuracy obtained in ad hoc sensor networks with a spread-spectrum physical layer, and (ii) show that, for such networks, minimizing the average localization error is equivalent to maximizing the average effective throughput. We further demonstrate that the developed framework allows the extraction of the optimal network parameters that maximize localization accuracy. The trends in the localization accuracy with respect to the network parameters observed through analysis are then validated via simulation studies. Finally, some aspects of the modeling of location-aware sensor networks that warrant investigation and require more sophisticated modeling strategies are listed.