Distributed location model and algorithm with position uncertainty

The localization of multiple mobile terminals (MTs) is an encouraging paradigm of applications in wireless networks. Peer-to-peer communication between MTs facilitates the cooperative localization of multiple MTs. For sake of low complexity and high robustness, investigations often focus on the distributed algorithm in cooperative localization. However, the impact from position uncertainty of cooperative MT lacks of analysis in related works. A new distributed location model, as well as corresponding algorithm, is devised when considering both the distance measurement error and the position uncertainty of MTs, which is more judicious than the traditional model for distributed cooperative localization scenario. In addition, the performance of proposed algorithm is analyzed through Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB). Simulations indicate that the algorithm outperforms traditional methods in terms of accuracy and robustness.