A Theoretical Foundation of Network Navigation

Real-time navigation capability is a key enabler for many emerging applications in wireless networks. Localization of moving nodes via network navigation gives rise to a new paradigm, where nodes exploit both temporal and spatial cooperation to determine their positions based on intra- and inter-node measurements. In this paper, we establish a theoretical foundation for network navigation to determine the fundamental limits of navigation accuracy. In particular, we derive the accuracy limits in terms of navigation information by equivalent Fisher information analysis. Our framework unifies the navigation information obtained from temporal and spatial cooperation, leading to a deep understanding of information exchange in the network and benefit of cooperation.