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New distributed positioning algorithm based on centroid of circular belt for wireless sensor networks

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Abstract

This paper presents a new distributed positioning algorithm for unknown nodes in a wireless sensor network. The algorithm is based exclusively on connectivity. First, assuming that the positions of the anchor nodes are already known, a circular belt containing an unknown node is obtained using information about the anchor nodes that are in radio range of the unknown node, based on the geometric relationships and communication constraints among the unknown node and the anchor nodes. Then, the centroid of the circular belt is taken to be the estimated position of the unknown node. Since the algorithm is very simple and since the only communication needed is between the anchor nodes and the unknown node, the communication and computational loads are very small. Furthermore, the algorithm is robust because neither the failure of old unknown nodes nor the addition of new unknown nodes influences the positioning of unknown nodes to be located. A theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the algorithm does not produce any cumulative error and is insensitive to range error, and that a change in the number of sensor nodes does not affect the communication or computational load. These features make this algorithm suitable for all sizes of low-power wireless sensor networks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Science & Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, PRC

    Xu-Zhi Lai, Gui-Xiu Zeng & Min Wu

  2. Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory, School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Simon X. Yang

  3. School of Bionics, Tokyo University of Technology, 1404-1 Katakura, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0982, Japan

    Jin-Hua She

Authors
  1. Xu-Zhi Lai
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  2. Simon X. Yang
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  3. Gui-Xiu Zeng
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  4. Jin-Hua She
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  5. Min Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Min Wu.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of P. R. China (No. 60425310) and the Teaching and Research Award Program for Outstanding Young Teachers in Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education, P. R. China (TRAPOYT).

Xu-Zhi Lai received her B.S., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in engineering from Central South University, Changsha, China, in 1988, 1991 and 2001, respectively. In 1991, she joined the School of Information Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China, where she is currently a professor. She was a visiting scholar in the Department of Mechatronics, School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Technology from April 1998 to April 1999. She was also a visiting scholar in the Department of Mechanical and Engineering, University of Toronto and in the School of Engineering, University of Guelph from September 2004 to March 2006. Her research interests include wireless sensor networks, intelligent systems, nonlinear systems, and robotics.

Simon X. Yang received a B.Sc. degree in engineering physics from Peking University, Beijing, China, in 1987, an M.Sc. degree in biophysics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Beijing, China, in 1990, an M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Houston, Houston, Texas, in 1996, and a Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada, in 1999. In 1999, he joined the School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada as an assistant professor. Currently, he is an associate professor and the director of the Advanced Robotics and Intelligent Systems (ARIS) Laboratory at that university. His research interests include robotics, intelligent systems, sensors, control systems, image and signal processing, neurocomputation, and bioinformatics.

Dr. Yang has published over 160 refereed journal papers, book chapters, and conference papers. He is a technical editor of the journal Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete and Impulse Systems and the International Journal of Information Acquisition. He has been involved in the organization of many international conferences.

Gui-Xiu Zeng received her B.Sc. degree in electronic information and engineering from the Central South University, China, in 2004. She is now an master student in electronic circuits and systems at the Central South University, China. Her current research interests include wireless sensor networks, intelligent systems, and robotics.

Jin-Hua She received his B.Sc. degree in control engineering from the Central South University, China, in 1983, and M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in control engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, in 1990 and 1993, respectively. In 1993, he joined the Department of Mechatronics, School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Technology, and in April, 2004, he transferred to the University’s School of Bionics, where he is currently an associate professor.

Dr. She received the paper prize in control engineering practice at IFAC in 1999 (jointly with M. Wu and M. Nakano). His current research interests include the application of control theory, repetitive control, expert control, Internet-based engineering education, and robotics. He is a member of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE) and the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ).

Min Wu received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering from the Central South University, Changsha, China in 1983 and 1986, respectively. In July, 1986, he joined the staff of the university, where he is currently a professor of automatic control engineering. He was a visiting scholar in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, from 1989 to 1990, and a visiting research scholar in the Department of Control and Systems Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, from 1996 to 1999. He received his Ph.D. degree in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan in 1999.

Dr. Wu received the best paper award at IFAC in 1999 (jointly with M. Nakano and J. H. She). His current research interests include robust control and its applications, process control, and intelligent control. He is a member of the Nonferrous Metals Society of China and the China Automation Association.

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Lai, XZ., Yang, S.X., Zeng, GX. et al. New distributed positioning algorithm based on centroid of circular belt for wireless sensor networks. Int J Automat Comput 4, 315–324 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-007-0315-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-007-0315-x

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