Addressing Real-World Localization Challenges in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Study of Swarm-Based Optimization Techniques

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have gained significant attention across various industries and scientific fields. Localization, a crucial aspect of WSNs, involves accurately determining node positions to track events and execute actions. Despite the development of numerous localization algorithms, real-world environments pose challenges such as anisotropy, noise, and faults. To improve accuracy amidst these complexities, researchers are increasingly adopting advanced methodologies, including soft computing, software-defined networking, maximum likelihood estimation, and optimization techniques. Our comprehensive review from 2020 to 2024 reveals that approximately 29% of localization solutions employ optimization techniques, 48% of which utilize nature-inspired swarm-based algorithms. These algorithms have proven effective for node localization in a variety of applications, including smart cities, seismic exploration, oil and gas reservoir monitoring, assisted living environments, forest monitoring, and battlefield surveillance. This underscores the importance of swarm intelligence algorithms in sensor node localization, prompting a detailed investigation in our study. Additionally, we provide a comparative analysis to elucidate the applicability of these algorithms to various localization challenges. This examination not only helps researchers understand current localization issues within WSNs but also paves the way for enhanced localization precision in the future.