Node selection for cooperative localization: Efficient energy vs. accuracy trade-off

In this paper, we present a cooperative localization algorithm for wireless sensor networks. We adopt an RSS-based localization algorithm due to its lower complexity with respect to other ranging techniques such as TOA or AOA. Since the energy consumption is a key aspect in sensor networks, we propose a node selection algorithm in order to avoid the use of all the nodes in the network for positioning purposes. Thus, we derive a practical solution tailored to the strict requirements of sensor networks in terms of complexity, size and cost. In particular, nodes in the network select the cooperating nodes by simply comparing their received RSS with a threshold. We present results based on both computer simulations and experimentation with the Crossbow IRIS motes showing that the proposed scheme offers a good trade-off in terms of position accuracy vs. energy consumption.