Frequency Scanning using Software Defined Radio for Localised Range Estimation

Range estimation for localisation in wireless sensor networks is an ill posed problem due to multipath. The advancements in software defined radio have made possible the novel ranging technique outlined in this paper. By using frequency scanning, node localisation is achieved in wireless sensor networks (WSN). The technique examines the periodicities in the frequency scan and concludes that when a frequency scan is performed, the periodicity of the received signal strength is proportional to the distance. By comparing the periodic value to a linear periodic function, the distance between sensor node and anchor node can be estimated. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed ranging technique is capable of giving accurate localised range estimations.