A distributed AOA based localization algorithm for wireless sensor networks

In this paper we propose a distributed algorithm for solving the positioning problem in ad-hoc wireless networks. The method is based on the capability of the nodes to measure the angle of arrival (AOA) of the signals they produce. The main features of the distributed algorithm are simplicity, asynchronous operations (i.e. no global coordination among nodes is required), ability to operate in disconnected networks. Moreover each node can join the computation at any time. Numerical results, obtained by simulating several scenarios, show that the algorithm can reach a good level of convergence even when the number of communications is limited. © 2008 Academy Publisher.