An Integrated Approach for Position Estimation using RSSI in Wireless Sensor Network

Received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is used as one of the ranging techniques to locate dynamic sensor nodes in wireless sensor network. Before it can be used for position estimation, RSSI values must be converted to distances using path loss model. These distances among sensor nodes are combined using trilateration method to find position. This paper presents an idea which attempts to integrate both path loss model and trilateration as one algorithm without going through RSSI-distance conversion. This means it is not simply formulas combination but a whole new model was developed. Several advantages were found after integration: it is able to reduce processing load, and ensure that all values do not exceed the maximum range of 16-bit signed or unsigned numbers due to antilog operation in path loss model. The results also show that this method is able to reduce estimation error while inaccurate environmental parameters are used for RSSI-distance conversion.