Distributed selection of references for localization in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

The main purpose of wireless sensor networks is to provide information about an area of interest. In order to fulfill this task, physical parameters have to be measured by as many sensors as possible to improve the knowledge on the sensed area. In contrast, due to the resource-limited nature of sensor networks, the number of actively participating nodes should be kept to a minimum. This paper investigates the trade-off between the two conflicting requirements with special focus on localization of sensor nodes. A distributed algorithm to select subsets of sensor nodes for localization is analyzed regarding the accuracy of localization.