A mobile anchor assisted localization algorithm based on regular hexagon in wireless sensor networks

Localization is one of the key technologies in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), since it provides fundamental support for many location-aware protocols and applications. Constraints of cost and power consumption make it infeasible to equip each sensor node in the network with a global position system(GPS) unit, especially for large-scale WSNs. A promising method to localize unknown nodes is to use several mobile anchors which are equipped with GPS units moving among unknown nodes and periodically broadcasting their current locations to help nearby unknown nodes with localization. This paper proposes a mobile anchor assisted localization algorithm based on regular hexagon (MAALRH) in two-dimensional WSNs, which can cover the whole monitoring area with a boundary compensation method. Unknown nodes calculate their positions by using trilateration. We compare the MAALRH with HILBERT, CIRCLES, and S-CURVES algorithms in terms of localization ratio, localization accuracy, and path length. Simulations show that the MAALRH can achieve high localization ratio and localization accuracy when the communication range is not smaller than the trajectory resolution.The work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China, no. BK20131137; the Applied Basic Research Program of Nantong Science and Technology Bureau, no. BK2013032; and the Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology's Internal Project, no. 2012RC0106. Jaime Lloret's work has been partially supported by the "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion," through the "Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011" in the "Subprograma de Proyectos de Investigacion Fundamental," Project TEC2011-27516. Joel J. P. C. Rodrigues's work has been supported by "Instituto de Telecomunicacoes," Next Generation Networks and Applications Group (NetGNA), Covilha Delegation, by national funding from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the Pest-OE/EEI/LA0008/2013 Project.Han, G.; Zhang, C.; Lloret, J.; Shu, L.; Rodrigues, JJPC. (2014). A mobile anchor assisted localization algorithm based on regular hexagon in wireless sensor networks. Scientific World Journal. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/219371SLiu, Y., Yang, Z., Wang, X., & Jian, L. (2010). Location, Localization, and Localizability. Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 25(2), 274-297. doi:10.1007/s11390-010-9324-2Akcan, H., Kriakov, V., Brönnimann, H., & Delis, A. (2010). Managing cohort movement of mobile sensors via GPS-free and compass-free node localization. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 70(7), 743-757. doi:10.1016/j.jpdc.2010.03.007Akyildiz, I. F., Weilian Su, Sankarasubramaniam, Y., & Cayirci, E. (2002). 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