Posterior CramÉr–Rao Lower Bounds for Target Tracking in Sensor Networks With Quantized Range-Only Measurements

Abstract

We consider the problem of target tracking in a wireless sensor network (WSN) that consists of randomly distributed range-only sensors. Quantized measurements are usually adopted in such a network to attack the problem of limited power supply and communication bandwidth. Assuming that local sensor noises are mutually independent, we derive the posterior Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) on the mean squared error (MSE) of target tracking in WSNs with quantized range-only measurements. Recursion of posterior CRLB on tracking based on both constant velocity (CV) and constant acceleration (CA) model for target dynamics and a general range-only measuring model for local sensors are obtained. Due to the analytical difficulties, particle filter is applied to approximate the theoretical bounds. To illustrate the posterior CRLB, an example on tracking a target with noisy circular trajectories is given.