Title: SGSCP: subnetwork-based grid search cooperative positioning for irregular wireless sensor networks

Authors: Xingsheng Xia; Yilin Xia; Xiaoyong Yan; Zhi-E Lou; Jiajia Yan

Addresses: School of Internet of Things and Intelligent Engineering, Jiangsu Vocational Institute of Commerce, Nanjing, 211168, China ' School of Network and Communication Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 211169, China ' School of Modern Posts, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003, China ' School of Modern Posts, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210003, China ' School of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, Nanjing, 210038, China

Abstract: Wireless sensor networks are widely deployed in complex and unstructured environments, where accurate node location information is fundamental for network operation and data interpretation. In practical scenarios, obstacles, signal attenuation, and uneven node distributions often lead to irregular network topologies, under which conventional hop-based positioning methods suffer from degraded performance due to their reliance on homogeneous assumptions. To address this issue, a subnetwork-based grid search cooperative positioning (SGSCP) algorithm is proposed. The method allows beacon nodes to exchange hop information using the Bellman-Ford protocol and independently estimate local hop-distance characteristics. Each unknown node then constructs a constrained subnetwork composed of its four nearest beacons and performs a bounded grid search guided by hop similarity. Extensive simulations demonstrate that SGSCP achieves improved localisation accuracy, enhanced robustness to beacon density variations, and stable performance across diverse irregular topologies, outperforming existing methods in terms of median error and error dispersion.

Keywords: grid search; cooperative positioning; irregular wireless sensor networks; WSNs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2026.154337

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2026 Vol.51 No.2, pp.129 - 142

Received: 14 Oct 2025
Accepted: 20 Oct 2025
Published online: 23 Jun 2026 *

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