Joint Synchronization and Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Semidefinite Programming

A new joint synchronization and localization method for wireless sensor networks using two-way exchanged timestamps is proposed in this paper. The goal is to jointly localize and synchronize the source node, assuming that the locations and clock parameters of the anchor nodes are known. We first form the measurement model and derive the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB). An analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of a recent scheme on joint synchronization and localization motivates us to develop a maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) that effectively resolves the issues of this existing scheme. A novel semidefinite programming method is then proposed to transform the nonconvex MLE problem into a convex optimization problem. Extensive simulation results are obtained to compare the synchronization and localization performances of proposed scheme and a few state-of-the-art existing schemes.