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Infrastructureless Location Aware Configuration for Sensor Networks

Xi Wang, Fabio Silva, and John Heidemann
USC/Information Sciences Institute

Abstract

In large sensor networks nodes must self-configure their communication, location, and other characteristics. GPS and similar systems determine location today, but they require substantial infrastructure in the environment or on sensor nodes to locate nodes in a physical coordinate system. For many applications, logical location--the relationhip of nodes with each other and their environment--can be more important than physical location. For example, distance along a road and presence of intersections may be more relevant than Euclidean coordinates for applications that track or guide drivers. In this paper we present a novel algorithm, deployment order, for logical location determination. Deployment order exploits node deployment patterns and simple user interactions to define logical topologies in a completely distributed manner. With minimal user interaction it can establish arbitrarily complex logical topologies. We illustrate the algorithm through the ``follow-me'' application, which is an easy-to-deploy sensornet guidance system suitable for use in office buildings as well as inhospitable environments (underground, in damaged buildings, etc.). Finally, we demonstrate how the addition of landmarks allows the conversion from logical locations to approximate physical locations.

Availability

This paper is available in several formats: abstract web page with pointers and cites, PDF, paper copies can be obtained by mail to the authors. Copyright terms for this paper appear below.

Reference

Wang04c: Xi Wang, Fabio Silva, and John Heidemann. Infrastructureless Location Aware Configuration for Sensor Networks. In Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications, pp. 174-183. English Lake District, United Kingdom, IEEE. December, 2004. <http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Wang04c.html>.

@inproceedings{Wang04c,
	author = "Xi Wang and Fabio Silva and John Heidemann",
	title = "Infrastructureless Location Aware Configuration for Sensor Networks",
	booktitle = "Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications",
	year = "2004",
	publisher = "{IEEE}",
	address = "English Lake District, United Kingdom",
	month = "December",
	pages = "174--183",
	url = "http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Wang04c.html",
	pdfurl = "http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/PAPERS/Wang04c.pdf",
	myorganization = "USC/Information Sciences Institute",
	copyrightholder = "{IEEE}",
}

Copyright

This paper is copyright © 2004 by IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.