Node localization algorithm based on UKF filtering with TOF

Localization of nodes is very important in wireless sensor network. A localization algorithm is proposed based on TOF (time of flight) ranging and Unscented Kalman Filtering (UKF). Firstly, TOF ranging was selected to measure the distance between beacon nodes and unknown nodes. With the TOF data, the distance measurement was obtained and optimized, and an node localization method was achieved by using Unscented Kalman Filtering, which avoided the fault of linearization error in Extended Kalman Filtering (EKF). Simulation results indicate that the algorithm combining TOF Ranging with Unscented Kalman filtering performs well in WSN node localization, and it can improve the positioning accuracy greatly. The algorithm was low-cost, and it can satisfy the application for WSN node localization.