Sensor placement for isotropic source localization

This paper proposes a sensor placement method for three-dimensional point source localization using multiple sensors. An observation model of multiple sensors and one source of unknown position is introduced. Given that model, the minimum number of sensors needed to localize the source is determined, and an optimal sensor placement is derived. The placement is optimal in the sense that it minimizes the effect of the measurement error on the localization error bound. The proposed placement is also shown to simplify the computational complexity. The theoretical results are experimentally evaluated through simulation. The simulation results reveal that the proposed placement significantly reduces the relative localization error.