A novel distance vector hop localization method for wireless sensor networks

Abstract Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) require accurate localization of sensor nodes for various applications. In this article, we propose the distance vector hop localization method (DVHLM) to address the node dislocation issue in real-time networks. The proposed method combines trilateration and Particle Swarm Optimization techniques to estimate the location of unknown or dislocated nodes. Our methodology includes four steps: coordinate calculation, distance calculation, unknown node position estimation, and estimation correction. To evaluate the proposed method, we conducted simulation experiments and compared its performance with state-of-the-art methods in terms of localization accuracy with known nodes, dislocated nodes, and shadowing effects. Our results demonstrate that DVHLM outperforms the existing methods and achieves better localization accuracy with reduced error. This article provides a valuable contribution to the field of WSNs by proposing a new method with a detailed methodology and superior performance.