Power-efficient node localization algorithm in wireless sensor networks

Sensor networks is an Ad-Hoc network consist of large amount of sensors. These sensors are distributed in a huge area. Each of the small, cheap, intelligent sensors has processor, memory and wireless transmission ability. These sensors collect or monitor the surroundings in real-time and process these data to obtain the detailed and accurate information from their covered area. Information from sensors must be combined with its location to make sense, so the location of sensors is very important in sensor network applications. Localization of sensors becomes one of the key techniques in sensor networks. A power-efficient localization algorithm is proposed in this paper. It uses few anchors(the sensors whose location is known) to implement the localization of other nodes without special devices such as GPS. This algorithm not only has the lower time cost and communication cost, but also needs only a few anchor nodes whose distribution is independent. Experimental results and analysis show that the localization algorithm proposed in this paper has higher accuracy, lower power cost and better expansibility. It is very suitable for large scale sensor networks.