TPSS: A Time-Based Positioning Scheme for Sensor Networks with Short Range Beacons

Location discovery is a challenging problem in sensor networks. However, many sensor network applications require the availability of the physical sensor positions. In this paper, we present TPSS, a time-based positioning scheme for sensor networks when a number of short-range beacons are randomly and uniformly deployed. By measuring the Time Difference of Arrivals (TDoAs) of signals from nearby beacons, nodes can use TPSS to effectively estimate their locations based on the range differences through trilateration. TPSS requires no long-range beacons to cover the entire network, an essential difference compared to TPS [2] and iTPS [15]. Features of TPSS include high scalability, low communication and computation overheads, no requirement for time synchronization, etc. Simulation results indicate that TPSS is an effective and efficient self-positioning scheme for sensor networks with short range beacons.