Path planning and localization for mobile anchor based wireless sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks, anchor positions play an important role for accurate localization. For mobile anchor (MA) based scenarios, both the efficiency of the path planning algorithm and the accuracy of the localization mechanism are critical for the best performance. In this work, an adaptive path planning algorithm is proposed based on Gauss-Markov mobility model, while the sensors are localized using alternating minimization approach. Path planning, which combines the velocity adjustment, the perpendicular bisector and the virtual repulsive strategies, is improved by developing virtual attractive force strategy. The surveillance area is divided into grids and a virtual attractive force is applied to the MA in sparsely and densely populated areas. For localization, the non-convex optimization problem is converted into a bi-convex form and solved by alternating minimization algorithm leading to a shorter MA path. The simulation results show that introducing the virtual attractive strategy increases the path planning accuracy and cover more surveillance region using less energy. Furthermore, compared to the linear localization method, the localization accuracy increases when the alternating minimization is used.