Home // International Journal On Advances in Networks and Services, volume 3, numbers 1 and 2, 2010 // View article

Evaluation of Outdoor RSS-Based Tracking for WSNs Aiming at Topology Parameter Ranges Selection

Authors:
Fotis Kerasiotis
Tsenka Stoyanova
George Papadopoulos

Keywords: wireless sensor networks, tracking, received signal strength, simulation

Abstract:
The localization and tracking applications are among the most challenging applications, especially when the received signal strength (RSS) is utilized. The RSS is known to be a noisy signal and difficult to use in localization and tracking applications. In the present study we investigate the possibility a target tracking task to be performed with the resources of WSN technology, when using only the RSS of the exchanged messages. We demonstrate that RSS can be used for outdoor localization and tracking application under well-defined topology constraints. The present work presents detailed study about the topology parameter selection when a tracking application is considered. Moreover, the RSS uncertainty is defined in order to be included in the simulation of a tracking scenario. The target tracking considerations by means of tracking techniques, topology parameters and factors influencing the tracking accuracy are combined in simulation examples to evaluate their significance concerning the performance of the tracking task. Furthermore, the propagation model and the topology parameters being identified are used in real outdoor tracking test.

Pages: 140 to 157

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2010. Used with permission.

Publication date: September 5, 2010

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2644