Stitching orders in patch-and-stitch localization algorithms for wireless sensor networks

In localization algorithms following the "patch-and-stitch" strategy, the network is divided into small overlapping subregions. For each subregion, the algorithm builds a local structure called a patch which is actually an embedding of the nodes it spans in a relative coordinate system. Then, the patches are stitched together to form a single global map. In this class of algorithms, the stitching order makes a great influence on the performance of the algorithm. In this paper, we present a formal framework to deal with stitching orders. In our framework, each stitching scheme consists of a stitching policy and a potential function. The potential function is to predict how well a patch will be stitched if patches are stitched according to a given partial order. The stitching policy is a mechanism that determines the stitching order based on the predictions by the potential function. We present various stitching schemes and evaluate their performances though simulations.