Localization Techniques for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks (original) (raw)

Over the past decade Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been a widely used paradigm for observing various environmental phenomenon via sampling. Mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSNs) are regarded as the ascendants of wireless sensor networks in which mobility plays a vital role. Adding mobility in WSN is very crucial as it may be either an incidental side effect and may prove to be detrimental for the network performance, or it may prove out to be a desired property and as a result may enhance network performance. The need for robustness and scalability in a sensor network alleviates the need for accurate, fast and cost effective localization. Localization i.e., estimating sensor position is one of the significant challenges of MWSNs. This paper presents a survey of current localization methods for mobile wireless sensor networks. In this survey we present the entire localization process, classification of localization methods and algorithms, summarized their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, localization problems are discussed which affect localization process and application areas of mobile wireless sensor networks are covered.