Node topology effect on target tracking based on underwater wireless sensor networks

Since underwater nodes provide measurements for target tracking based on underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs), node topology, which is made up of the underwater nodes, may affect the performance of target tracking. But all the existing target tracking schemes do not consider this effect. This paper studies the effect of node topology on the target tracking in UWSNs. Firstly, by using the knowledge of geometry, the effects of four typical topologies on target tracking based on UWSNs are analyzed qualitatively. The four typical topologies include four nodes form a square, four nodes are in line, four nodes are close to each other, and four nodes form a regular tetrahedron. Secondly, to evaluate the arbitrary topology, the relationship between the posterior Cramer-Rao lower bound (PCRLB) and node's position is derived. Thirdly, our target tracking scheme consisting of the optimal topology selection scheme by minimizing PCRLB, the optimal fusion center selection scheme by minimizing energy consumption, and the multi-sensor particle filter (PF) is designed. Last, simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.