Date of Award
4-2006
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Computer Science
First Advisor
Dr. Ajay Gupta
Second Advisor
Dr. Mohsen Guizani
Third Advisor
Dr. Zijiang Yang
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Song Ci
Abstract
Localization and synchronization are fundamental services for many applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), since it is often required to know thesensor nodes' position and global time to relate a given event detection to a specific location and time. However, the localization and synchronization tasks are often performed after the sensor nodes' deployment on the sensor field. Since manual configuration of sensor nodes is usually an impractical activity, it is necessary to rely on specific algorithms to solve both localization and clock synchronization problems of sensor nodes. With this in mind, in this work we propose a joint solution for the problem of 3D localization and time synchronization in WSNs using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A UAV equipped with GPS flies over the sensor field broadcasting its geographical position. Therefore, sensor nodes are able to estimate their geographical position and global time without the need of equipping them with a GPS device. Through simulation experiments, we show that our proposed joint solution reduces time synchronization and localization errors as well as energy consumption when compared to solutions found in the literature.
Access Setting
Dissertation-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Terwilliger, Mark, "Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks" (2006). Dissertations. 996.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/996