Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants

Localization, finding the coordinates of an object with respect to other objects with known coordinates-hereinafter, referred to as anchors, is a nonlinear problem, as it involves solving circle equations when relating distances to Cartesian coordinates, or, computing Cartesian coordinates from angl...

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Main Authors: Usman A. Khan, Soummya Kar, Jose M. F. Moura
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2015-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7180272/
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author Usman A. Khan
Soummya Kar
Jose M. F. Moura
author_facet Usman A. Khan
Soummya Kar
Jose M. F. Moura
author_sort Usman A. Khan
collection DOAJ
description Localization, finding the coordinates of an object with respect to other objects with known coordinates-hereinafter, referred to as anchors, is a nonlinear problem, as it involves solving circle equations when relating distances to Cartesian coordinates, or, computing Cartesian coordinates from angles using the law of sines. This nonlinear problem has been a focus of significant attention over the past two centuries and the progress follows closely with the advances in instrumentation as well as applied mathematics, geometry, statistics, and signal processing. The Internet-of-Things (IoT), with massive deployment of wireless tagged things, has renewed the interest and activity in finding novel, expert, and accurate indoor self-localization methods, where a particular emphasis is on distributed approaches. This paper is dedicated to reviewing a notable alternative to the nonlinear localization problem, i.e., a linear-convex method, based on Khan et al.'s work. This linear solution utilizes relatively unknown geometric concepts in the context of localization problems, i.e., the barycentric coordinates and the Cayley-Menger determinants. Specifically, in an m-dimensional Euclidean space, a set of m+1 anchors, objects with known locations, is sufficient (and necessary) to localize an arbitrary collection of objects with unknown locations-hereinafter, referred to as sensors, with a linear-iterative algorithm. To ease the presentation, we discuss the solution under a structural convexity condition, namely, the sensors lie inside the convex hull of at least m+1 anchors. Although rigorous results are included, several remarks and discussion throughout this paper provide the intuition behind the solution and are primarily aimed toward researchers and practitioners interested in learning about this challenging field of research. Additional figures and demos have been added as auxiliary material to support this aim.
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spelling doaj.art-aec4b5f107994abfb3fd5b2bc69ebb4f2022-12-21T23:44:21ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362015-01-0131326133910.1109/ACCESS.2015.24648127180272Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger DeterminantsUsman A. Khan0Soummya Kar1Jose M. F. Moura2Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USALocalization, finding the coordinates of an object with respect to other objects with known coordinates-hereinafter, referred to as anchors, is a nonlinear problem, as it involves solving circle equations when relating distances to Cartesian coordinates, or, computing Cartesian coordinates from angles using the law of sines. This nonlinear problem has been a focus of significant attention over the past two centuries and the progress follows closely with the advances in instrumentation as well as applied mathematics, geometry, statistics, and signal processing. The Internet-of-Things (IoT), with massive deployment of wireless tagged things, has renewed the interest and activity in finding novel, expert, and accurate indoor self-localization methods, where a particular emphasis is on distributed approaches. This paper is dedicated to reviewing a notable alternative to the nonlinear localization problem, i.e., a linear-convex method, based on Khan et al.'s work. This linear solution utilizes relatively unknown geometric concepts in the context of localization problems, i.e., the barycentric coordinates and the Cayley-Menger determinants. Specifically, in an m-dimensional Euclidean space, a set of m+1 anchors, objects with known locations, is sufficient (and necessary) to localize an arbitrary collection of objects with unknown locations-hereinafter, referred to as sensors, with a linear-iterative algorithm. To ease the presentation, we discuss the solution under a structural convexity condition, namely, the sensors lie inside the convex hull of at least m+1 anchors. Although rigorous results are included, several remarks and discussion throughout this paper provide the intuition behind the solution and are primarily aimed toward researchers and practitioners interested in learning about this challenging field of research. Additional figures and demos have been added as auxiliary material to support this aim.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7180272/
spellingShingle Usman A. Khan
Soummya Kar
Jose M. F. Moura
Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants
IEEE Access
title Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants
title_full Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants
title_fullStr Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants
title_full_unstemmed Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants
title_short Linear Theory for Self-Localization: Convexity, Barycentric Coordinates, and Cayley–Menger Determinants
title_sort linear theory for self localization convexity barycentric coordinates and cayley x2013 menger determinants
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7180272/
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AT josemfmoura lineartheoryforselflocalizationconvexitybarycentriccoordinatesandcayleyx2013mengerdeterminants