Title: Location discovery for sensor networks with short range beacons

Authors: Fang Liu, Xiuzhen Cheng, Dong Hua, Dechang Chen

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, University of Texas, Pan American, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA. ' TOP ASCENT Inc., Mountain View, CA 94040, USA. ' Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA

Abstract: In this paper, we present TPSS, a time-based positioning scheme for sensor networks with short-range beacons. By measuring Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) of signals from nearby beacons, nodes can use TPSS to effectively estimate their locations through trilateration iteratively. We also propose iTPSS as an enhancement to improve the localisation accuracy by a clustering-based position refinement. Extensive simulations have been conducted and the results indicate that both schemes are effective and efficient for location discovery, and iTPSS outperforms TPSS in positioning accuracy.

Keywords: sensor networks; location discovery; TDoA; time difference of arrival; trilateration; short range beacons; time-based positioning; localisation accuracy; clustering; positioning accuracy; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAHUC.2009.024515

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, 2009 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.125 - 136

Published online: 08 Apr 2009 *

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