Intensity-based Event Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks

Event detection and event localization are inherent tasks of many wireless sensor network applications. The inaccuracy of sensor measurements on the one hand and resource limitations on the other make efficient event localization a challenging problem. In this paper we propose a fully distributed localization scheme that consists of two algorithms. The distributed election-winner notification algorithm (DENA) performs the determination of the closest sensor node to an event and notifies all other nodes about that winner. The intensitybased localization algorithm (ILA) provides a signal independent position estimation of the event and is calculated at the winner node. The novelty of the ILA algorithm is its independence from the kind of signal emitted by an event. In contrast, it solely requires knowledge about the intensity of an event. The location of an event can thus be estimated without pre-knowledge about the nature of the event and with fewer constraints on the sensor hardware. These properties constitute the practicability of the algorithm in generic applications.