LoWCA: Localization and Tracking Techniques Using a Wireless Sensor Network in Confined Areas - Study of the Impact of the Memory Size of Nodes

This paper proposes a generic solution called LoWCA for Localization and tracking nodes using a Wireless sensor network in Confined Area. This solution exploits the mobility of nodes to collect, transmit and pass around their knowledge. The knowledge used here is a collection of ´contact events´. Each contact event being a way to record the fact that a node has been in range of another node. A set of tag-nodes (fixed nodes) are used to indicate their position for the localization process. The scarce resources of the nodes and particularly their memory capacity lead us to define rules (filters) to determine which contact event must be stored, carried and forwarded in priority. Our generic solution is presented for a particular application domain: activities in confined environments such as mines. We study the effect of the memory size on the localization process through simulations. An experimentation step has been used to enhance our simulation model.