Study on mobile beacon trajectory for node localization in wireless sensor networks

Most existing localization algorithms use Mobile Beacon (MB) to broadcast beacon packets with its own coordinates for localizing unknown nodes. These algorithms do not need too much cost but obtain higher localization precision according to the mobile trajectory. In the case trajectory study of MB is the fundamental problem to be solved. In this paper, we propose a new static trajectory, k-coverage trajectory to reduce beacon density and trajectory length, which is designed to focus on the virtual beacon deployment and the shortest touring path obtainment. Since the static trajectory does not work well in non-uniformly deployed sensor networks, we propose a virtual force trajectory, which is a new dynamic trajectory, designed according to virtual force on MB that is exerted by unknown nodes. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed trajectories.