A Hybrid Positioning Framework for Large-Scale Three-Dimensional IoT Environments

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Network Engineering

Background:

• Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing (EC) are crucial for modern applications but require accurate data source localization.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) is often unsuitable for IoT/EC due to coverage, energy, and interference issues.
• Accurate geographic origin determination is vital for the meaningfulness of sensed data in IoT and EC.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an innovative GPS-free positioning framework for three-dimensional (3D) Edge Computing (EC) environments.
• To address the limitations of GPS in IoT and EC scenarios.
• To enhance the accuracy and efficiency of data source localization in 3D IoT/EC systems.

Main Methods:

• Generalization of Distance Vector-Hop (DV-Hop) and multi-angulation algorithms for 3D environments.
• Integration of DV-Hop and multi-angulation with structural modifications to balance exploration and exploitation.
• Incorporation of Jellyfish Search (JS) and Artificial Rabbits Optimization (ARO) algorithms, including Lévy flight perturbation and local search for improved convergence and precision.

Main Results:

• Simulated performance across sixteen diverse 3D IoT environments.
• Comparison with nine state-of-the-art localization algorithms using Mean Squared Error (MSE), Normalized Localization Error (NLE), Average Localization Error (ALE), and Localization Error Variance (LEV) metrics.
• Demonstrated an average accuracy improvement of 39% over competing methods via quantitative relative improvement ratio tests.

Conclusions:

• The proposed GPS-free positioning framework significantly enhances localization accuracy in 3D IoT/EC environments.
• The integration of DV-Hop, JS, and ARO algorithms offers a robust and efficient solution for data source localization.
• The framework effectively overcomes the limitations of GPS, providing a practical alternative for various IoT and EC applications.