Patent ID: 7353031

Claim:
A method of estimating a location of a blindfolded node in a wireless network having a plurality of reference nodes, the method comprising: combining the plurality of reference nodes into reference pairs; obtaining a plurality of probable regions for the blindfolded node based on the reference pairs; overlapping the plurality of probable regions; estimating the location of the blindfolded node as a geometric center of the overlapped plurality of probable regions; and wherein the step of obtaining a plurality of probable regions for the blindfolded node based on the reference pairs, includes the steps of: determining whether each reference pair's reference nodes are not within communication range of each other; and for each reference pair's reference nodes that are not within communication range of each other, determining a common region between a first geometric region and a second geometric region, the first geometric region being determined by a geometric location of a first reference node and a maximum communication range of the first reference node, and the second geometric region being determined by a geometric location of the second reference node and a maximum communication range of the second reference node, the probable location of the blindfolded node being within the common region.