System and method for self-calibrating, self-organizing and localizing sensors in wireless sensor networks

1. A method of self-organizing sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network (WSN), the WSN comprising a plurality of sensor nodes in communication with a master node, the method comprising:

distributing/installing each one of the plurality of sensor nodes randomly at one of a plurality of predefined absolute geographical locations, without relating a node identification with an installed predefined geographical location, wherein at least two of the sensor nodes are anchor nodes of known identification and absolute geographical locations;

configuring each of the sensor nodes to in turn transmit consecutive messages at a plurality of pre-defined and incrementally increasing transmitted power levels to identify a lowest pre-defined power level that enables message reception at each of a plurality of other sensor nodes;

detecting receipt of the transmitted messages at each of the sensor nodes and notifying the master node as to the identity of each sensor node receiving the transmitted message and the transmitted power level of the message to define a neighbourhood for each sensor node;

determining relative locations of each sensor node in relation to other sensor nodes within the WSN based on the neighbourhood for each sensor node, wherein said neighbourhood for each sensor node is defined by reception of messages transmitted by said sensor node at increasing pre-defined transmitted power levels by a plurality of surrounding sensor nodes; and

relating the identification of each sensor node with a geographical location from a list of said predefined absolute geographical locations based on the relative locations of the sensor nodes based on results of the neighborhoods, the known locations of the two anchor nodes, and the plurality of predefined absolute locations.

2. A method of localizing mobile sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network (WSN), the WSN comprising a plurality of mobile sensor nodes and fixed sensor nodes, wherein the plurality of mobile sensor nodes and fixed sensor nodes are connected to a master node, the method comprising:

transmitting a first identification message of a series of identification messages from a mobile sensor node at a lowest transmit power level from a predefined set of transmit power levels;

detecting receipt of the first identification message at each of the fixed sensor nodes and sending a response message to the mobile sensor node if the first identification message is received by each of the fixed sensor nodes, wherein said response message identifies each fixed sensor node receiving the first identification message without identification of a measured received signal strength of the first identification message;

estimating, based on a reception range of the first transmitted message, the location of the mobile sensor node relative to the responding fixed sensor node(s) if the first identification message is received, else transmitting a second identification message from the mobile sensor node at a plurality of increasing second predefined transmit power levels, the second predefined transmit power levels being incrementally higher than the lowest transmit power level;

detecting receipt of the second identification message at each of the fixed sensor nodes and sending a response message to the mobile sensor node as to the identity of each fixed sensor node receiving the second identification message and the second transmit power level of the second identification message which was received; and

determining the location of the mobile sensor node relative to the fixed sensor nodes based on the lowest transmit power levels at which the first and second identification messages are received by the fixed sensor nodes.

3. The method of localizing a mobile node in a WSN according to claim 2 , additionally comprising using an accelerometer and a compass integrated with the mobile sensor node to supplement/enhance radio-based localization.

4. The method of localizing a mobile node in a WSN according to claim 2 , additionally comprising:

controlling the frequency of transmitting the first and second identification messages by the mobile sensor node based on the motion of the mobile sensor node.

5. A method of self-calibrating a wireless sensor network (WSN), the WSN comprising a plurality of sensor nodes connected to a master node, the method comprising:

transmitting wireless signals at a plurality of pre-defined incrementally increasing transmitted power levels between each pair of neighboring sensor nodes among the plurality of sensor nodes;

measuring received signal strength at each of the neighboring sensor nodes for each of the pre-defined incrementally increasing transmitted power levels at which the signal was transmitted;

determining a transmission coefficient based on the received signal strength for messages transmitted at multiple pre-defined incrementally increasing transmitted power levels for each pair of neighboring sensor nodes; and

determining a translation vector for each position between pairs of neighboring sensor nodes based on the corresponding transmission coefficients for the neighboring sensor nodes, wherein each said translation vector is operable to calibrate a localized position for a mobile node located at a position between a pair of sensor nodes.

6. The method of self-calibrating a WSN according to claim 5 , additionally comprising:

receiving a localized position for a mobile node located between a pair of neighboring sensor nodes; and

applying a corresponding translation vector to the localized position to determine a calibrated localization position for the mobile node.

7. The method of self-calibrating a WSN according to claim 5 , additionally comprising repeating the transmitting, measuring and determining operations to account for at least one variation of wireless signal transmission in the WSN.