A novel range location method using area or volume coordinates

Two problems arise in the conventional geometric range location method. One is that the performance of location estimate is asymmetric in the case of ill-distributed sensors, the other is that the optimum location estimate cannot be obtained in the case of a minimal number of sensors. In this paper, an novel location method is proposed based on the constraint on area and volume coordinates. A hybrid location method is also developed in a straightforward way to improve the location estimate. Theoretical analysis and numerical examples are included to show the superiority of the new location methods, especially in the case of low noise level.