IEEE 802.15.4a based Localization Algorithm for Location Accuracy Enhancement in the NLOS Environment

IEEE 802.15.4a standard can provide a variety of location-based services for ZigBee or wireless network applications by adapting the time-of-arrival (TOA) ranging technique. The non-line-of-sight (NLOS) condition is the critical problem in the IEEE 802.15.4a networks, and it can significantly degrade the performance of the TOA-based localization. To enhance the location accuracy due to the NLOS problem, this paper proposes an energy-efficient low complexity localization algorithm. The proposed approach performs the ranging with the multicast method, which can reduce the message overhead due to packet exchanges. By limiting the search region for the location of the node, the proposed approach can enhance the location accuracy. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms previous algorithms in terms of the energy consumption and the localization accuracy.