  We propose a class of convex relaxations to solve the sensor network
localization problem, based on a maximum likelihood (ML) formulation. This
class, as well as the tightness of the relaxations, depends on the noise
probability density function (PDF) of the collected measurements. We derive a
computational efficient edge-based version of this ML convex relaxation class
and we design a distributed algorithm that enables the sensor nodes to solve
these edge-based convex programs locally by communicating only with their close
neighbors. This algorithm relies on the alternating direction method of
multipliers (ADMM), it converges to the centralized solution, it can run
asynchronously, and it is computation error-resilient. Finally, we compare our
proposed distributed scheme with other available methods, both analytically and
numerically, and we argue the added value of ADMM, especially for large-scale
networks.
