Reducing localization errors in sensor ad hoc networks

In this paper, we present a localization system comprising two simple and efficient localization algorithms for sensor networks. We refer to the proposed localization system as the differential ad-hoc positioning system (DAPS). Differential GPS motivated the underlying idea on which the proposed localization system is based. Specifically, the algorithms use a differential error correction scheme that is designed to reduce the cumulative distance and positioning error accumulated over the multiple hops. Using simulation, we investigate DAPS and compare the proposed algorithms with non-differential based schemes. The key contribution of this work is the illustration of how differential error corrections can be calculated and incorporated into the localization process to effectively reduce the range measurement errors and, as such, significantly improve positioning accuracy.