Localization Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Network Based on Characteristics of Energy Attenuation

A novel localization algorithm for wireless sensor network is presented.It established an interval mapping between the received signal power and the transmission range on the basis of the log-normal shadowing model and the "3σ" principle of normal distribution.With this interval mapping technique,an unknown node got the energy intervals through received signal strengths(RSS),and then determined which distance intervals of the transmission range it was located in from beacons.By transforming those intervals information into distance constraints,this algorithm drew arcs and thus formed several annulus-segment areas.Their intersection,named "the target annulus-segment region",is the minimum area by which the unknown node is hemmed in,and its center position is applied to estimate the location of the unknown node.Compared with other RF-based localization algorithms such as Centroid,Bounding-Box, APIT and MLE,our algorithm performs better when the side length of the nodes distribution area is approximate to or shorter than the transmission range of the sensor nodes.