scholarly journals Bluetooth 5.1: An Analysis of Direction Finding Capability for High-Precision Location Services

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3589
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pau ◽  
Fabio Arena ◽  
Yonas Engida Gebremariam ◽  
Ilsun You

This paper presents an in-depth overview of the Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding standard’s potentials, thanks to enhancing the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) firmware. This improvement allows producers to create location applications based on the Angle of Departure (AoD) and the Angle of Arrival (AoA). Accordingly, it is conceivable to design proper Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS), for instance, for the traceability of resources, assets, and people. First of all, Radio Frequency (RF) radiogoniometry techniques, helpful in calculating AoA and AoD angles, are introduced in this paper. Subsequently, the topic relating to signal direction estimation is deepened. The Bluetooth Core Specification updates concerning version 5.1, both at the packet architecture and prototyping levels, are also reported. Some suitable platforms and development kits for running the new features are then presented, and some basic applications are illustrated. This paper’s final part allows ascertaining the improvement made by this new definition of BLE and possible future developments, especially concerning applications related to devices, assets, or people’s indoor localization. Some preliminary results gathered in a real evaluation scenario are also presented.

Author(s):  
G. G. Haagmans ◽  
S. Verhagen ◽  
R. L. Voûte ◽  
E. Verbree

Since GPS tends to fail for indoor positioning purposes, alternative methods like indoor positioning systems (IPS) based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE) are developing rapidly. Generally, IPS are deployed in environments covered with obstacles such as furniture, walls, people and electronics influencing the signal propagation. The major factor influencing the system performance and to acquire optimal positioning results is the geometry of the beacons. The geometry of the beacons is limited to the available infrastructure that can be deployed (number of beacons, basestations and tags), which leads to the following challenge: Given a limited number of beacons, where should they be placed in a specified indoor environment, such that the geometry contributes to optimal positioning results? This paper aims to propose a statistical model that is able to select the optimal configuration that satisfies the user requirements in terms of precision. The model requires the definition of a chosen 3D space (in our case 7 × 10 × 6 meter), number of beacons, possible user tag locations and a performance threshold (e.g. required precision). For any given set of beacon and receiver locations, the precision, internal- and external reliability can be determined on forehand. As validation, the modeled precision has been compared with observed precision results. The measurements have been performed with an IPS of BlooLoc at a chosen set of user tag locations for a given geometric configuration. Eventually, the model is able to select the optimal geometric configuration out of millions of possible configurations based on a performance threshold (e.g. required precision).


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 532
Author(s):  
Henglin Pu ◽  
Chao Cai ◽  
Menglan Hu ◽  
Tianping Deng ◽  
Rong Zheng ◽  
...  

Multiple blind sound source localization is the key technology for a myriad of applications such as robotic navigation and indoor localization. However, existing solutions can only locate a few sound sources simultaneously due to the limitation imposed by the number of microphones in an array. To this end, this paper proposes a novel multiple blind sound source localization algorithms using Source seParation and BeamForming (SPBF). Our algorithm overcomes the limitations of existing solutions and can locate more blind sources than the number of microphones in an array. Specifically, we propose a novel microphone layout, enabling salient multiple source separation while still preserving their arrival time information. After then, we perform source localization via beamforming using each demixed source. Such a design allows minimizing mutual interference from different sound sources, thereby enabling finer AoA estimation. To further enhance localization performance, we design a new spectral weighting function that can enhance the signal-to-noise-ratio, allowing a relatively narrow beam and thus finer angle of arrival estimation. Simulation experiments under typical indoor situations demonstrate a maximum of only 4∘ even under up to 14 sources.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 4462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Baronti ◽  
Paolo Barsocchi ◽  
Stefano Chessa ◽  
Fabio Mavilia ◽  
Filippo Palumbo

Indoor localization has become a mature research area, but further scientific developments are limited due to the lack of open datasets and corresponding frameworks suitable to compare and evaluate specialized localization solutions. Although several competitions provide datasets and environments for comparing different solutions, they hardly consider novel technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is gaining more and more importance in indoor localization due to its wide availability in personal and environmental devices and to its low costs and flexibility. This paper contributes to cover this gap by: (i) presenting a new indoor BLE dataset; (ii) reviewing several, meaningful use cases in different application scenarios; and (iii) discussing alternative uses of the dataset in the evaluation of different positioning and navigation applications, namely localization, tracking, occupancy and social interaction.


Author(s):  
Pooneh Mohaghegh ◽  
Alexis Boegli ◽  
Yves Perriard

Author(s):  
Smita Sanjay Ambarkar ◽  
Rakhi Dattatraya Akhare

This chapter focuses on the comprehensive contents of various applications and principles related to Bluetooth low energy (BLE). The internet of things (IoT) applications like indoor localization, proximity detection problem by using Bluetooth low energy, and enhancing the sales in the commercial market by using BLE have the same database requirement and common implementation idea. The real-world applications are complex and require intensive computation. These computations should take less time, cost, and battery power. The chapter mainly focuses on the usage of BLE beacons for indoor localization. The motive behind the study of BLE devices is that it is supported by mobile smart devices that augment its application exponentially.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 1773-1777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parvin Malekzadeh ◽  
Arash Mohammadi ◽  
Mihai Barbulescu ◽  
Konstantinos N. Plataniotis

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