Range-free sensor localisation with ring overlapping based on comparison of received signal strength indicator

Sensor localization has become an essential requirement for many applications over wireless sensor networks. Radio irregularity and stringent constraints on hardware cost and battery power, however, make localization very challenging. Range-based localization depends on special-purpose hardware for direct measurement of the distance to reference points. Range-free localization, in contrast, does not depend on absolute point-to-point distance measurement and thus does not require extra hardware. We present a range-free localization method using Ring-Overlapping based on Comparison of Received Signal Strength Indicator (ROCRSSI). We test its performance with a small network of MICA2 Motes and with simulation for large-scale networks. Compared to one of the best existing range-free localization algorithms, ROCRSSI exhibits better localization accuracy and other good features such as smaller communication overhead and resilience to radio irregularity.