Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2023

Document Type

Research Paper

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Dr. Jordan Hanson

Abstract

Robust indoor positioning systems based on low energy bluetooth signals will service a wide range of applications. We present an example of a low energy bluetooth positioning system. First, the steps taken to locate the target with the bluetooth data will be reviewed. Next, we describe the algorithms of the set of android apps developed to utilize the bluetooth data for positioning. Similar to GPS, the algorithms use trilateration to approximate the target location by utilizing the corner devices running one of the apps. Due to the fluctuating nature of the bluetooth signal strength indicator (RSSI), we used an averaging algorithm to smooth the data, increasing the reliability in the calculated target location. The system produces target coordinate locations relative to the distance from the corner applications in the room containing the target; under ideal conditions, the corners can be up to around 80 meters apart. The system produces accurate target locations 85% of the time, as in the calculated location of the target is within about 40 cm to the actual location of the target. This was found in the test environment of a rectangular room of 2.5 by 3.5 meters. The relative coordinates were found to be about 40 cm apart, with about 20 cm of error per coordinate set for this system's scale. The system is able to track typical walk speeds and relative movement between the different corner devices efficiently and accurately enough to provide useful information for real world situations.

Code is private but may be requested. Please contact Jackson@dbacksys.com to request.

Recommended Citation

Diamond, J. T., & Hanson, J. (2023). Bluetooth Low Energy Indoor Positioning System. Retrieved from https://poetcommons.whittier.edu/scholars/25

Senior Symposium Clipped.mp4 (33339 kB)
Video presentation at the Senior Symposium
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Read Me Code description file
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Image of set up layout