An improved quadrilateral localization algorithm for wireless sensor networks

Self-localization is a precondition for many wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. To obtain a more accurate and robust localization, an improved quadrilateral localization algorithm is proposed. Considering a real environment, a flip ambiguity detection criterion is adopted into trilateration localization. And for the propose of avoiding intense fluctuation and error propagation of localization results, a centroid quadrilateral localization (CQL) and a comparative weighted quadrilateral localization (WQL) with flip ambiguity detection conditions are developed by adding a node with known position. Then a development flow is designed for the real environment. Finally, the distributed suitable localization experiment is conducted in an area of 15.3m×15.3m, and the results show that both CQL and WQL have a capacity of error endurance, CQL errors are within 2.7m, WQL errors are within 3.7m. And WQL is more stable than CQL, but also bears results with larger stable errors.