Is RSSI a Reliable Parameter in Sensor Localization Algorithms – An Experimental Study

Wireless sensor networks are becoming ubiquitous and their application areas are widening by the day. Localization algorithms play an important role in enhancing the utility of data collected by enabling sensors to determine the location from which each data packet is obtained. Localization can be done by implementing beacon based algorithms or signature based algorithms. Much of the research work in this area assumes received signal strength indicator (RSSI) as a parameter in their localization algorithms. Since RSSI is the key parameter, we conducted practical experiments to assess whether RSSI could indeed be used by localization algorithms to determine distances between sensors. In our experiments, we tried to calibrate and map RSSI to distance under various conditions and concluded that despite promising hypothetical advantages of RSSI, even under ideal conditions it cannot be used to determine inter nodal distances in wireless sensor networks.