Bluetooth Indoor Positioning System Gaining Prominence Today

Lilian Andersen, Director, Mobile Software, nextnav

Bluetooth is a widely used IPS technology that can maintain connection stability while using very little power. Bluetooth's most recent improvements allow it to accurately locate and track things.

Many people utilize positioning systems regularly all throughout the world. Location services based on geographic data and satellite navigation are the most common (GIS and GNSS). These devices, on the other hand, are only effective outdoors and do not perform well in enclosed spaces. Indoor positioning systems are unique solutions that rely on technologies and methods other than satellite data to provide positioning. One of these technologies is Bluetooth. Indoor positioning can be used in every business area and for a number of objectives, as far as their imagination and budget allow.

An organization’s technical capabilities, specs, and budget will all influence how they implement a Bluetooth Low Energy indoor positioning project. First and foremost, they must decide whether they want to create an IPS from scratch or integrate it into an existing system. The method of positioning will be determined by this. They can only utilize RSSI in conjunction with trilateration if their Bluetooth version is less than 5.1. This strategy is appropriate for sharing information, locating goods and sites of interest, and advertising products and services in close proximity. It has a positioning accuracy of over one meter. 

Business owners can employ BLE indoor positioning systems for marketing purposes, notifying visitors of promotional offers and discounts. Organizations can use Bluetooth 4.0 to develop an IPS with BLE to communicate with customers via a mobile application. The technology might offer relevant information to app users after establishing their location.

Direct discovery strategies can be used if an organization's system supports the newest Bluetooth Specification version. They can reach pinpoint accuracy in Bluetooth location service deployments, such as wayfinding and real-time locating or tracking, using the AoA and AoD methodologies.

The AoD approach uses a single antenna receiver to read signals from numerous transmitter antennas. Each signal comes at a specific angle and at a specific time. We may measure the AoD and the distance between the transmitter and the receiver by knowing the distance between the transmitter's antennas and the time intervals between the signals. The IPS can use this information to determine the object's location.

If the network has multiple devices, employing triangulation as a supporting placement approach can improve accuracy. Organizations can crosscheck the data with the use of filtering techniques to minimize mistakes in the position calculations to a minimum.