Particle swarm optimization for auto-localization of nodes in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we consider the problem of auto-localization of the nodes of a static Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) where nodes communicate through Ultra Wide Band (UWB) signaling. In particular, we investigate auto-localization of the nodes assuming to know the position of a few initial nodes, denoted as “beacons”. In the considered scenario, we compare the location accuracy obtained with the widely used Two-Stage Maximum-Likelihood algorithm with that achieved with an algorithm based on Particle Swarming Optimization (PSO). Accurate simulation results show that the latter can significantly outperform the former.