A Symmetric Localization Algorithm for MANETs Based on Collapsing Coordinate Systems

Localization in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is the process of fixing the position of a node according to some real or virtual coordinate system. In many cases, solutions like Global Positioning System (GPS) are not feasible. As a result, several algorithms have been developed for localization based purely on local communication. However, many of these suffer from one of the following: flooding of the network, requirement for global knowledge, or the requirement of “beacon” nodes, which know their absolute position according to GPS. At the very least, localization algorithms require parts of the system to be either static or relatively stable. In this paper, we propose a symmetric localization algorithm that performs fairly accurate localization. No special elements like beacons and other static elements are required; however, they are not excluded.