Best Practice in RSS Measurements and Ranging

Abstract

The term “ranging” is often used to indicate the operations that make it possible to estimate the distance between two nodes by processing some signals generated and/or received by the nodes. In wireless systems, a very popular ranging method makes use of the radio signal strength (RSS), which is a measure of the received radio signal power. However, RSS-based ranging is considered very inaccurate, particularly in indoor environments, mainly because of the randomness of the received signal power. In this tutorial paper, we provide an in-depth analysis of the main factors that affect the variability of the received signal power and the accuracy of the RSS measurements. Starting\ud from a survey of the most common and widely accepted models for the radio signal propagation and the RSS-based ranging, we\ud then focus our attention on some technological and procedural pitfalls that are often overlooked, but may significantly affect the\ud accuracy of the RSS-based ranging, and we suggest possible techniques to alleviate such problems. The theoretical argumentation\ud is backed up by a set of empirical results in different scenarios. We conclude this paper by providing some best-practice recommendations\ud for proper RSS-based ranging estimation in wireless networks and discussing new approaches and open research challenges

The Accurate Location Estimation of Sensor Node Using Received Signal Strength Measurements in Large-Scale Farmland

“…The RSSI-based ranging methods can be conveniently implemented since most RF IC chips of WSN nodes can directly provide the information of RSSI [15]. The essence of the RSSI-based ranging is that the average power of radio signal decays with the distance between transmitter and receiver according to some deterministic law, which can be referred to as path loss model [16]. It is noted that the path loss model plays an important role in improving the quality and reliability of ranging accuracy [17].…”

Energy-Constrained UAV Trajectory Design for Ground Node Localization

“…Several ground anchor based localization techniques have been extensively studied in the literature [3]. In particular, the received signal strength (RSS) technique is attractive due to its intrinsic simplicity and the fact that the RSS estimation functionality is readily available in all chipsets [4]. However, the variation around the mean signal power due to shadowing significantly affects the reliability of this method.…”

Efficient localization of target in large scale farmland using generalized regression neural network

“…In other words, maintaining LOS with satellite is not simple in wheat farmland as well attaching GPS module to every sensor node is not at all costeffective option. 19 The path loss model plays a crucial role in characterizing the wireless environment and thereby decides the localization accuracy. The features such as easy deployment and lower maintenance costs, unattended working, and self-organizing capability make WSN important alternative for various target Localization and Tracking (L&T) applications.…”

“…The RSSI-based localization is based on the calculation of the distance between transmitter and receiver by exploiting RSS using a suitable path loss model. 19 The path loss model plays a crucial role in characterizing the wireless environment and thereby decides the localization accuracy. 6,20,21 Therefore, choosing an appropriate path loss model is a key to success in developing efficient localization algorithm.…”