Accurate and efficient node localization for mobile sensor networks

In this paper, we propose a range-free cooperative localization algorithm for mobile sensor networks by combining hop-distance measurements with particle filtering. In the hop-distance measurement step, we design a differential-error correction scheme to reduce the positioning error accumulated over multiple hops. We also introduce a backoff-based broadcast mechanism in our localization algorithm. It efficiently suppresses redundant broadcasts and reduces message overhead. The proposed localization method has fast convergence with small location estimation error. We verify our algorithm in various scenarios and compare it with conventional localization methods. Simulation results show that our proposed method has similar or superior performance when compared to other state-of-the-art localization algorithms.