RSS-based node localization in the presence of attenuating objects

Node localization is an important task in the context of wire less sensor networks. Although algorithms already exist to carry out localization using measurements of received signal strength (RSS), none of these methods take into account the attenuating and scattering effects of objects which lie within or around the network and which therefore affect the obtained RSS measurements. In this paper, we use a map of the attenuations seen over a given area in order to reinterpret the measured RSS values, thereby refining RSS-based node localization and providing significant improvements over existing algorithms. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance gains which can be achieved using our method.