On the accuracy of multi-hop relative location estimation in wireless sensor networks

Knowledge of node's locations is an essential requirement for many applications of wireless sensor networks. A major problem with multi-hop location discovery is the accumulated error. In this paper, we analyze the effect of reflection errors and present the Multi-hop Relative Location Estimation (MRLE) algorithm that estimates relative node's positions with low error margins. We capture the impact of different parameters on the accuracy of the estimated position and introduce a new metric, called the CLIQUE factor, that has a very dominant effect on the accuracy of the estimated positions. We further highlight means for trading accuracy for energy consumption and/or computational overhead.