Abstract

Instrumenting the physical world through large networks of wireless sensor nodes, particularly for applications like environmental monitoring of water and soil, requires that these nodes be very small, lightweight, untethered, and unobtrusive. The problem of localization, that is, determining where a given node is physically located in a network, is a challenging one, and yet extremely crucial for many of these applications. Practical considerations such as the small size, form factor, cost and power constraints of nodes preclude the reliance on GPS of all nodes in these networks. We review localization techniques and evaluate the effectiveness of a very simple connectivity metric method for localization in outdoor environments that makes use of the inherent RF communications capabilities of these devices. A fixed number of reference points in the network with overlapping regions of coverage transmit periodic beacon …

Date

January 1, 1970

Authors

Nirupama Bulusu, John Heidemann, Deborah Estrin

Journal

IEEE personal communications

Volume

7

Issue

5

Pages

28-34

Publisher

IEEE