Distributed Recognition of Reference Nodes for Wireless Sensor Network Localization

All known localization techniques for wireless sensor and ad-hoc networks require certain set of reference nodes being used for position estimation. The anchor-free techniques in contrast to anchor-based do not require reference nodes called anchors to be placed in the network area before localization operation itself, but they can establish own reference coordinate system to be used for the relative position estimation. We observed that contemporary anchor-free localization algorithms achieve a low localization error, but dissipate significant energy reserves during the recognition of reference nodes used for the position estimation. Therefore, we have proposed the optimized anchor-free localization algorithm referred to as BRL (Boundary Recognition aided Localization), which achieves a low localization error and mainly reduces the communication cost of the reference nodes recognition phase. The proposed BRL algorithm was investigated throughout the extensive simulations on the database of networks with the different number of nodes and densities and was compared in terms of communication cost and localization error with the known related algorithms such as AFL and CRP. Through the extensive simulations we have observed network conditions where novel BRL algorithm excels in comparison with the state of art

Reference Nodes Selection for Anchor-Free Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks

Dizertační práce se zabývá návrhem nového bezkotevního lokalizačního algoritmu sloužícího pro výpočet pozice uzlů v bezdrátových senzorových sítích. Provedené studie ukázaly, že dosavadní bezkotevní lokalizační algoritmy, pracující v paralelním režimu, dosahují malých lokalizačních chyb. Jejich nevýhodou ovšem je, že při sestavení množiny referenčních uzlu spotřebovávají daleko větší množství energie než algoritmy pracující v inkrementálním režimu. Paralelní lokalizační algoritmy využívají pro určení pozice referenční uzly nacházející se na protilehlých hranách bezdrátové sítě. Nový lokalizační algoritmus označený jako BRL (Boundary Recognition aided Localization) je založen na myšlence decentralizovaně detekovat uzly ležící na hranici síti a pouze z této množiny vybrat potřebný počet referenčních uzlu. Pomocí navrženého přístupu lze znažně snížit množství energie spotřebované v průběhu procesu výběru referenčních uzlů v senzorovém poli. Dalším přínosem ke snížení energetických nároku a zároveň zachování nízké lokalizační chyby je využití procesu multilaterace se třemi, eventuálně čtyřmi referenčními body. V rámci práce byly provedeny simulace několika dílčích algoritmu a jejich funkčnost byla ověřena experimentálně v reálné senzorové síti. Navržený algoritmus BRL byl porovnán z hlediska lokalizační chyby a počtu zpracovaných paketů s několika známými lokalizačními algoritmy. Výsledky simulací dokázaly, že navržený algoritmus představuje efektivní řešení pro přesnou a zároveň nízkoenergetickou lokalizaci uzlů v bezdrátových senzorových sítích.The doctoral thesis is focused on a design of a novel anchor free localization algorithm for wireless sensor networks. As introduction, the incremental and concurrent anchor free localization algorithms are presented and their performance is compared. It was found that contemporary anchor free localization algorithms working in the concurrent manner achieve a low localization error, but dissipate signicant energy reserves. A new Boundary Recognition Aided Localization algorithm presented in this thesis is based on an idea to recognize the nodes placed on the boundary of network and thus reduce the number of transmission realized during the reference nodes selection phase of the algorithm. For the position estimation, the algorithm employs the multilateration technique that work eectively with the low number of the reference nodes. Proposed algorithms are tested through the simulations and validated by the real experiment with the wireless sensor network. The novel Boundary Recognition Aided Localization algorithm is compared with the known algorithms in terms of localization error and the communication cost. The results show that the novel algorithm presents powerful solution for the anchor free localization.

Homology-based Distributed Coverage Hole Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

Homology theory provides new and powerful solutions to address the coverage problems in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). They are based on algebraic objects, such as Cech complex and Rips complex. Cech complex gives accurate information about coverage quality but requires a precise knowledge of the relative locations of nodes. This assumption is rather strong and hard to implement in practical deployments. Rips complex provides an approximation of Cech complex. It is easier to build and does not require any knowledge of nodes location. This simplicity is at the expense of accuracy. Rips complex can not always detect all coverage holes. It is then necessary to evaluate its accuracy. This work proposes to use the proportion of the area of undiscovered coverage holes as performance criteria. Investigations show that it depends on the ratio between communication and sensing radii of a sensor. Closed-form expressions for lower and upper bounds of the accuracy are also derived. For those coverage holes which can be discovered by Rips complex, a homology-based distributed algorithm is proposed to detect them. Simulation results are consistent with the proposed analytical lower bound, with a maximum difference of 0.5%. Upper bound performance depends on the ratio of communication and sensing radii. Simulations also show that the algorithm can localize about 99% coverage holes in about 99% cases

Overlapping Multi-hop Clustering for Wireless Sensor Networks

Clustering is a standard approach for achieving efficient and scalable performance in wireless sensor networks. Traditionally, clustering algorithms aim at generating a number of disjoint clusters that satisfy some criteria. In this paper, we formulate a novel clustering problem that aims at generating overlapping multi-hop clusters. Overlapping clusters are useful in many sensor network applications, including inter-cluster routing, node localization, and time synchronization protocols. We also propose a randomized, distributed multi-hop clustering algorithm (KOCA) for solving the overlapping clustering problem. KOCA aims at generating connected overlapping clusters that cover the entire sensor network with a specific average overlapping degree. Through analysis and simulation experiments we show how to select the different values of the parameters to achieve the clustering process objectives. Moreover, the results show that KOCA produces approximately equal-sized clusters, which allows distributing the load evenly over different clusters. In addition, KOCA is scalable; the clustering formation terminates in a constant time regardless of the network size

MAP: Medial Axis Based Geometric Routing in Sensor Networks

One of the challenging tasks in the deployment of dense wireless networks (like sensor networks) is in devising a routing scheme for node to node communication. Important consideration includes scalability, routing complexity, the length of the communication paths and the load sharing of the routes. In this paper, we show that a compact and expressive abstraction of network connectivity by the medial axis enables efficient and localized routing. We propose MAP, a Medial Axis based naming and routing Protocol that does not require locations, makes routing decisions locally, and achieves good load balancing. In its preprocessing phase, MAP constructs the medial axis of the sensor field, defined as the set of nodes with at least two closest boundary nodes. The medial axis of the network captures both the complex geometry and non-trivial topology of the sensor field. It can be represented compactly by a graph whose size is comparable with the complexity of the geometric features (e.g., the number of holes). Each node is then given a name related to its position with respect to the medial axis. The routing scheme is derived through local decisions based on the names of the source and destination nodes and guarantees delivery with reasonable and natural routes. We show by both theoretical analysis and simulations that our medial axis based geometric routing scheme is scalable, produces short routes, achieves excellent load balancing, and is very robust to variations in the network model