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
More filters
01 Feb 2021
TL;DR: The proposed technique facilitates time-consuming procedure for setting up Wi-Fi or Bluetooth access points, indoor map building and signal propagation model calibration, and solving the problem of reducing the dimension for simultaneous navigation and map building.
Abstract: The proposed technique facilitates time-consuming procedure for setting up Wi-Fi or Bluetooth access points, indoor map building and signal propagation model calibration. The technique based on OWL ontology and the SLAM method includes the phase of forming a training sample, as well as the phase of simultaneous navigation and mapping. The SLAM method implements The Gaussian Process Latent Variable Model (GP-LVM). The proposed method is based on solving the regression problem using machine learning methods to form a training sample, as well as solving the problem of reducing the dimension for simultaneous navigation and map building. As a training sample, the smartphone‘s internal sensor readings (steps and rotation angles) and Wi-Fi received signal strength values obtained using crowd calculations are used. The resulting training sample is used to determine the parameters of the correlation function that sets the correlation between the user‘s localization points. The proposed ontology is intended to determine different events occurring during user’s movement and involve the appropriate phase of the proposed technique.
2 citations
09 Sep 2019
TL;DR: A movement representation that consists of time-encoded strings is proposed that can work with different localisation systems, with little knowledge of the physical space properties, and with minimal bootstrapping required.
Abstract: We propose a context-free semantic localisation approach to visualise and analyse indoor movements. We focus on settings where indoor location or rooms have strongly associated semantics, such as hospitals. We describe an approach that can work with different localisation systems, with little knowledge of the physical space properties, and with minimal bootstrapping required. We propose a movement representation that consists of time-encoded strings, and discuss how our approach can be used for analysing and visualising longitudinal indoor localisation data.
2 citations
Cites methods from "Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..."
...Tests[9] show benefits in using BLE technology with an error < 2....
[...]
24 Jun 2019
TL;DR: The methodology and quantified result of this initial attempt provide reference not only for the network assignment process but also for building BLE-mesh networks in the above-the-ceiling environment, which can be exploited for HVACs management or sensor data aggregation.
Abstract: We have been working on automatic location estimation of HVACs utilizing the RSSI of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) to improve the time-consuming process in the HVAC system network setting where technicians need to identify the location of each HVAC one by one to assign a network address to the HVAC This short paper particularly reports an initial attempt of training a BLE propagation prediction model adaptive to "above-ceiling" environment, which is a key enabler for automation of the assignment process Based on the 13 million RSSI sample data collected in a real building for one week, we trained the model with different parameters and discovered that RMSE of RSSI prediction has the following trend: 1) it decreases with the introduction of the obstacle features –the number of beams and the number of HVAC machines, and 2) it decreases with the increase of polynomial term degree The best model so far has an RMSE of 4832 dBm tested by 10-fold cross-validation The methodology and quantified result of this initial attempt provide reference not only for the network assignment process but also for building BLE-mesh networks in the above-the-ceiling environment, which can be exploited for HVACs management or sensor data aggregation
2 citations
Cites background from "Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..."
...For example, the BLE tag is installed in a space such as an event venue [7] and commercial buildings [8]....
[...]
Posted Content•
TL;DR: A novel indoor positioning method designed for residential apartments that makes use of cellular signals emitting from a serving eNodeB which eliminates the need for specialized positioning infrastructure and utilizes Denoising Autoencoders to mitigate the effects of cellular signal loss.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel indoor positioning method designed for residential apartments. The proposed method makes use of cellular signals emitting from a serving eNodeB which eliminates the need for specialized positioning infrastructure. Additionally, it utilizes Denoising Autoencoders to mitigate the effects of cellular signal loss. We evaluated the proposed method using real-world data collected from two different smartphones inside a representative apartment of eight symbolic spaces. Experimental results verify that the proposed method outperforms conventional symbolic indoor positioning techniques in various performance metrics. To promote reproducibility and foster new research efforts, we made all the data and codes associated with this work publicly available.
2 citations
Cites background from "Location Fingerprinting With Blueto..."
...Examples of location fingerprints include radio frequency fingerprints (WiFi [6], Bluetooth [7], cellular [8]), magnetic field fingerprints [9], image fingerprints [10], and hybrid fingerprints [11]....
[...]
...They used hybrid fingerprints (WiFi, Bluetooth, and magnetometer) to evaluate and compare the classifiers being studied....
[...]
...• It does not require on-premises infrastructures such as WiFi APs or Bluetooth beacons for operation....
[...]
2 citations
References
More filters
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]....
[...]
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....
[...]
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]....
[...]
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]....
[...]