A Distance Estimation Model for DV-Hop Localization in WSNs

The localization of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has been a thorny research problem. Existing DV-Hop based range-free localization algorithms estimate the distance from an unknown node to an anchor node by the multi-hop forwarding principle and the location information of anchor nodes. However, they lack an accurate distance estimation model of anchor nodes under different hops, resulting in inaccurate localization. To address this issue, this paper proposes a distance estimation model (DEM) for DV-Hop localization in WSNs. Specifically, DEM mathematically derives the farthest distance detected by an anchor node under different hops. Then, the average distance is calculated by the upper and lower boundaries according to the derived farthest distance. Finally, the average distance is embedded into a multi-objective optimization to solve the DV-Hop localization problem. The simulation results show that the proposed model is significantly superior to the state of the art in terms of sensor localization accuracy and cost effectiveness.