Location Fingerprinting With Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons
TL;DR: This work provides a detailed study of BLE fingerprinting using 19 beacons distributed around a ~600 m2 testbed to position a consumer device, and investigates the choice of key parameters in a BLE positioning system, including beacon density, transmit power, and transmit frequency.
Abstract: The complexity of indoor radio propagation has resulted in location-awareness being derived from empirical fingerprinting techniques, where positioning is performed via a previously-constructed radio map, usually of WiFi signals. The recent introduction of the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio protocol provides new opportunities for indoor location. It supports portable battery-powered beacons that can be easily distributed at low cost, giving it distinct advantages over WiFi. However, its differing use of the radio band brings new challenges too. In this work, we provide a detailed study of BLE fingerprinting using 19 beacons distributed around a $\sim\! 600\ \mbox{m}^2$ testbed to position a consumer device. We demonstrate the high susceptibility of BLE to fast fading, show how to mitigate this, and quantify the true power cost of continuous BLE scanning. We further investigate the choice of key parameters in a BLE positioning system, including beacon density, transmit power, and transmit frequency. We also provide quantitative comparison with WiFi fingerprinting. Our results show advantages to the use of BLE beacons for positioning. For one-shot (push-to-fix) positioning we achieve $30\ \mbox{m}^2$ ), compared to $100\ \mbox{m}^2$ ) and < 8.5 m for an established WiFi network in the same area.
Citations
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19 Apr 2017
TL;DR: In this work, indoor fingerprinting algorithms for localization of mobile devices based on Correlation Database (CDB) Filtering, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Big Bang — Big Crunch (BB-BC) are compared and results show that using adaptive GA or BB-BC < 3 m error of %95 can be achieved with 4 Bluetooth Low Energy beacons distributed around a 40 m2 testbed.
Abstract: Global positioning systems, that proved their success in the outdoors, cannot perform as well in enclosed environments because they suffer from absence of line of sight or bad reception quality of base stations. In this regard, methods are being developed for highest accuracy indoor locating performance with least cost. Among these methods localization with fingerprinting is far more superior to other indoor localization methods as it uses the surrounding signals in the environment for accurate positioning and is available to most common mobile devices. In this work, indoor fingerprinting algorithms for localization of mobile devices based on Correlation Database (CDB) Filtering, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Big Bang — Big Crunch (BB-BC) are compared. Results show that using adaptive GA or BB-BC < 3 m error of %95 can be achieved with 4 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons distributed around a 40 m2 testbed, compared to < 5.4 m for CDB Filtering.
3 citations
Cites background from "Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..."
...In that manner, BLE is capable of supporting reliable and accurate indoor positioning [4]....
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22 Mar 2021
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present ArcIoT, a system that enables intuitive interaction with IoT devices by leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) and a novel relative indoor localization service, where the user points a smartphone camera towards a device to control, chooses the device by a tap on the screen, and interacts with the displayed interface.
Abstract: Increasing numbers of smart devices have enriched the possibilities of the IoT. These advances also impose significant cognitive overhead on the end-users; to interact with IoT devices, a user must be knowledgeable about the devices, the applications, the network, etc. We present ArcIoT, a system that enables intuitive interaction with IoT devices by leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) and a novel relative indoor localization service. In ArcIoT, the user points a smartphone camera towards a device to control, chooses the device by a tap on the screen, and interacts with the displayed interface. Continuously and transparently, ArcIoT maintains a map of devices in the environment, which allows it to quickly and reliably control them. Compared to existing solutions, ArcIoT does not need predefined markers to recognize a device or require any change to physical infrastructure. ArcIoT is also robust to changes in the locations of the IoT devices in the environment. We successfully deployed ArcIoT in different home environments and evaluated its performance to demonstrate that ArcIoT helps users control devices in everyday environments accurately, responsively and intuitively.
3 citations
01 Sep 2018
TL;DR: The utility of a commercially available low cost ultra-wideband (UWB) real-time location system (RTLS) to provide reference position information for the generation of accuracy high-density radio maps is investigated and the feasibility of the method is discussed.
Abstract: The utility of a commercially available low cost ultra-wideband (UWB) real-time location system (RTLS) to provide reference position information for the generation of accuracy high-density radio maps is investigated. The UWB RTLS hardware is deployed in a medium-sized office space in a university building and UWB ranges are recorded in static and kinematic mode over an array of precisely surveyed locations within the room. WLAN received signal strength indicator (RSSI) observations are taken simultaneously to UWB range measurements. Radio maps are then generated by interpolating the observed RSSI measurements using both the precisely surveyed coordinates and the UWB RTLS coordinates. The maps are compared and the feasibility of the method is discussed.
3 citations
Cites background from "Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..."
...Other approaches involve crowd sourcing of RSSI updates [4] while others introduce additional sensor device such as Bluetooth [5], RFID [6] and UWB [7]....
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...Other approaches involve crowd sourcing of RSSI updates [4] while others introduce additional sensor device such as Bluetooth [5], RFID [6] and UWB [7]....
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...978-1-5386-5635-8/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE Keywords—UWB; RTLS; radio maps; WLAN; Bluetooth I. INTRODUCTION The demand for accurate positioning and navigation in complex indoor areas is continuously increasing....
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...Future work will investigate the feasibility of applying this method to multiple rooms and multiple signals including Bluetooth low energy (BLE)....
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TL;DR: The authors propose that although sensor technology can be a useful addition to the measures/tools list, a comprehensive review of the research goal, the occupants' behavior and the environmental settings' characteristics should be conducted beforehand.
Abstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the use of technologies for measuring space occupancy to guide the selection of appropriate tools for workplace post-occupancy evaluation (POE) studies. The authors focus on how actual space occupancy was measured in previous studies and the pros and cons of the different technologies and tools. This paper also addresses research gaps and directions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The space occupancy measures/tools are categorized based on the three types of technologies: environmental/ambient sensors, wearable sensors/smartphones and computer vision. A total of 50 studies are reviewed to identify the capabilities and limitations of these measurements.
Findings
Based on review results, the authors propose that although sensor technology can be a useful addition to the measures/tools list, a comprehensive review of the research goal, the occupants' behavior, and the environmental settings' characteristics should be conducted beforehand. Selecting appropriate technology is critical for collecting the proper behavioral data type, with a lower level of surveillance and increased validity.
Originality/value
This paper urges critical thinking about existing occupancy measures/tools across various fields, to inform the adoption and creation of new building occupancy measures. The knowledge of emerging sensor technology allows researchers to better study the temporal patterns of occupant behavior over extended periods and in a wide range of settings.
3 citations
References
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01 Nov 2007
TL;DR: Comprehensive performance comparisons including accuracy, precision, complexity, scalability, robustness, and cost are presented.
Abstract: Wireless indoor positioning systems have become very popular in recent years. These systems have been successfully used in many applications such as asset tracking and inventory management. This paper provides an overview of the existing wireless indoor positioning solutions and attempts to classify different techniques and systems. Three typical location estimation schemes of triangulation, scene analysis, and proximity are analyzed. We also discuss location fingerprinting in detail since it is used in most current system or solutions. We then examine a set of properties by which location systems are evaluated, and apply this evaluation method to survey a number of existing systems. Comprehensive performance comparisons including accuracy, precision, complexity, scalability, robustness, and cost are presented.
4,123 citations
"Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..." refers background in this paper
...Indoor positioning is a mature research field, with many proposed technologies and techniques—comprehensive overviews can be found in [2], [18], [19]....
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06 Jun 2005
TL;DR: The Horus system identifies different causes for the wireless channel variations and addresses them and uses location-clustering techniques to reduce the computational requirements of the algorithm and the lightweight Horus algorithm helps in supporting a larger number of users by running the algorithm at the clients.
Abstract: We present the design and implementation of the Horus WLAN location determination system. The design of the Horus system aims at satisfying two goals: high accuracy and low computational requirements. The Horus system identifies different causes for the wireless channel variations and addresses them to achieve its high accuracy. It uses location-clustering techniques to reduce the computational requirements of the algorithm. The lightweight Horus algorithm helps in supporting a larger number of users by running the algorithm at the clients.We discuss the different components of the Horus system and its implementation under two different operating systems and evaluate the performance of the Horus system on two testbeds. Our results show that the Horus system achieves its goal. It has an error of less than 0.6 meter on the average and its computational requirements are more than an order of magnitude better than other WLAN location determination systems. Moreover, the techniques developed in the context of the Horus system are general and can be applied to other WLAN location determination systems to enhance their accuracy. We also report lessons learned from experimenting with the Horus system and provide directions for future work.
1,631 citations
"Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..." refers background in this paper
...Here the focus is on radio positioning, specifically using the empirical fingerprinting techniques [3], [15], [17], [22] that avoid the need to model the complex radio propagation environment indoors by patternmatching to a previously surveyed map of radio signal strengths....
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TL;DR: It is concluded that PDR techniques alone can offer good short- to medium- term tracking under certain circumstances, but that regular absolute position fixes from partner systems will be needed to ensure long-term operation and to cope with unexpected behaviours.
Abstract: With the continual miniaturisation of sensors and processing nodes, Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) systems are becoming feasible options for indoor tracking. These use inertial and other sensors, often combined with domain-specific knowledge about walking, to track user movements. There is currently a wealth of relevant literature spread across different research communities. In this survey, a taxonomy of modern PDRs is developed and used to contextualise the contributions from different areas. Techniques for step detection, characterisation, inertial navigation and step-and-heading-based dead-reckoning are reviewed and compared. Techniques that incorporate building maps through particle filters are analysed, along with hybrid systems that use absolute position fixes to correct dead-reckoning output. In addition, consideration is given to the possibility of using smartphones as PDR sensing devices. The survey concludes that PDR techniques alone can offer good short- to medium- term tracking under certain circumstances, but that regular absolute position fixes from partner systems will be needed to ensure long-term operation and to cope with unexpected behaviours. It concludes by identifying a detailed list of challenges for PDR researchers.
749 citations
"Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..." refers background in this paper
...fingerprints with other sources to form hybrid systems, many of which are based on the idea of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) [10], [16] being applied to pedestrian dead reckoning [13]....
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01 Feb 2000
TL;DR: This paper analyzes shortcomings of the basic system, develops and evaluates solutions to address these shortcomings, and describes several new enhancements, including a novel access point-based environmental profiling scheme, and a Viterbi-like algorithm for continuous user tracking and disambiguation of candidate user locations.
Abstract: We address the problem of locating users inside buildings using a radio-frequency (RF) wireless LAN. A previous paper presented the basic design and a limited evaluation of a user-location system we have developed. In this paper, we analyze shortcomings of the basic system, and develop and evaluate solutions to address these shortcomings. Additionally, we describe several new enhancements, including a novel access point-based environmental profiling scheme, and a Viterbi-like algorithm for continuous user tracking and disambiguation of candidate user locations. Using extensive data collected from our deployment, we evaluate our system’s performance over multiple wireless LAN technologies and in different buildings on our campus. We also discuss significant practical issues that arise in implementing such a system. Our techniques are implemented purely in software and are easily deployable over a standard wireless LAN.
608 citations
01 Jun 2010
TL;DR: NTP version 4 (NTPv4), which is backwards compatible with NTP version 3 (N TPv3), described in RFC 1305, as well as previous versions of the protocol, are described.
Abstract: The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is widely used to synchronize computer
clocks in the Internet. This document describes NTP version 4 (NTPv4),
which is backwards compatible with NTP version 3 (NTPv3), described in
RFC 1305, as well as previous versions of the protocol. NTPv4 includes
a modified protocol header to accommodate the Internet Protocol
version 6 address family. NTPv4 includes fundamental improvements in
the mitigation and discipline algorithms that extend the potential
accuracy to the tens of microseconds with modern workstations and fast
LANs. It includes a dynamic server discovery scheme, so that in many
cases, specific server configuration is not required. It corrects
certain errors in the NTPv3 design and implementation and includes an
optional extension mechanism. [STANDARDS-TRACK]
605 citations
"Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..." refers methods in this paper
...Before each experiment, each clock was manually synchronized using a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server [20]....
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