Range-free sensor localisation with ring overlapping based on comparison of received signal strength indicator

Abstract

Sensor localisation has become an essential requirement for many applications over wireless sensor networks. Radio irregularity and stringent constraints on hardware cost and battery power, however, make localisation very challenging. Range-based localisation depends on special-purpose hardware for direct measurement of the distance to reference points. Range-free localisation, in contrast, does not depend on absolute point-to-point distance measurement and thus does not require extra hardware. We present a range-free localisation method using Ring-Overlapping based on Comparison of Received Signal Strength Indicator (ROCRSSI). We test its performance with a small network of MICA2 Motes and with simulation for large-scale networks. Compared to one of the best existing range-free localisation algorithms, ROCRSSI exhibits better localisation accuracy and other good features such as smaller communication overhead and resilience to radio irregularity.