Design and evaluation of a lightweight tracking algorithm using WSN

Evaluating target tracking protocols for wireless sensor networks that can localize multiple mobile devices, can be a very challenging task. Such protocols usually aim at minimizing communication overhead, data processing for the participating nodes, as well as delivering adequate tracking information of the mobile targets in a timely manner. In this paper we design a new localization protocol, where mobile assets can be tracked passively via software agents. We address the issues that hinder its performance due to the real environment conditions and provide a deployable protocol. The implementation, integration and experimentation of this new protocol and it's optimizations, were performed using the WISEBED framework. We apply our protocol in an indoors wireless sensor testbeds with multiple experimental scenarios to showcase scalability and trade-offs between network properties and configurable protocol parameters. The analysis of experimental results, depict a real view of the target tracking problem, regarding power consumption and the quality of tracking information. © 2011 IEEE.