How can Bluetooth® help your business navigate indoor spaces?
Have you ever tried to use GPS inside a large building like a warehouse, hospital, or shopping mall? You probably noticed it doesn't work. GPS signals are weak and unreliable indoors, so it is being substituted by Bluetooth®. Smart businesses are now turning to Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) for powerful, accurate indoor positioning.This technology, which is a modern substitute for GPS inside buildings, offers a reliable way to guide people, track assets, and optimize operations inside any building.
What is Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE)?
BLE is a wireless technology known for its ultra-low power consumption. Introduced in 2010, it's now a standard feature on most modern devices, including smartphones, laptops, and PCs. Its big break came in 2013 when Apple introduced the iBeacon protocol, making indoor navigation a reality for everyday users. Since then, BLE has become a go-to solution for businesses in logistics, healthcare, and retail because it's affordable, energy-efficient, and easy to deploy.
How does indoor navigation with BLE beacons actually work?
Indoor navigation with BLE relies on small, battery-powered sensors called beacons. These compact devices can be placed on walls, ceilings, or even on moving objects. They're designed to run for years on a single battery, making them a low-maintenance solution.
Bluetooth® navigation system is carried out through a mobile application. The smartphone receives Bluetooth® signals from beacons inside the location and sends certain information to users, such as location data, directions to desired places, advertisements, and push notifications.
Two key technologies power this system:
- iBeacon – an in-building positioning system that allows exchanging data between Bluetooth® Low Energy devices and beacons. The technology was developed in 2013 and since then it has been actively used.
- Eddystone – a new standard of beacon work from Google. It is an extended version of Bluetooth® Low Energy and makes use of the key ability of beacons to transmit a unique identification code at short distances using Bluetooth® signals.
Key Benefits and Challenges of Bluetooth® Navigation and Positioning System
The indoor positioning with Bluetooth® beacons has a wide range of benefits for developing projects. With its help, it’s quite easy to orient in big buildings, quickly find the needed objects, and perform analytics of visits and movements inside the premises.
Benefits:
- Easy to Use: The system displays all necessary information on a simple digital map, so your team doesn't need special training.
- Energy Efficient: Beacons can operate for years on a single battery, conserving power and reducing maintenance costs.
- High Accuracy: BLE solutions can track objects with accuracy down to a few meters, providing precise location data.
- Simple Setup: Beacons and gateways are easy to deploy and configure to meet your specific needs. They can also be integrated with other wireless technologies.
Challenges:
- Limited Range: The signal range is typically limited to about 30 meters, which means you need to strategically place enough beacons to cover your entire space.
- Requires Equipment: You'll need to install a network of beacons and reading devices to ensure the system works correctly.
- Client App Needed: Users must have a specific application installed on their smartphones for the system to function.
Indoor Navigation and Wayfinding BLE Kit - Minew Hardware
Try all location-powered capabilities with the Navigine Indoor Indoor Navigation and Wayfinding BLE Kit - Minew Hardware
Bluetooth® Direction Finding
Bluetooth® direction finding enables the determination of the direction of radio signals transmitted between a user's smartphone and fixed anchor points. Two different architectures are used for these purposes:
- AOA (Angle of Arrival): This architecture is used for real-time location tracking and is based on the angle at which the radio signal arrives at the anchor point. The Bluetooth® technology calculates angular directions (elevation and azimuth) from the receiving device, enabling indoor positioning with Bluetooth® to achieve an accuracy of up to 1 meter. The transmitting device has one antenna, while the receiving device has at least two. By analyzing the phase difference between radio signals, the angle of arrival is determined, and the direction from which the signals arrive is calculated.
- AoD (Angle of Departure): This architecture is used for object navigation scenarios. It is based on determining the location considering the angle of departure of the radio signals. In this architecture, the transmitter has several antennas, while the receiver has only one. The transmitting device sends out pulses from each antenna, after which the phase differences between these radio signals are analyzed to estimate the angle of deviation and determine the direction from which the pulses were sent.
How Businesses Use Bluetooth® Indoor Positioning
BLE solutions are already transforming operations across multiple industries.
- Healthcare: Hospitals and clinics can use BLE to help patients and visitors easily find their way through large facilities, locating specific rooms, departments, or even doctor’s offices.
- Warehouses & Logistics: For managing large inventories, BLE is a game-changer. You can place beacons on high-value assets or critical equipment. If an item leaves a designated zone, the system can trigger an immediate alert, preventing loss or theft.
- Retail: Retailers can use beacons to send personalized promotions or product information to customers' phones as they walk by specific displays, creating a more engaging shopping experience.
- Manufacturing: In manufacturing, BLE asset tracking allows you to monitor the location and status of tools, parts, and equipment in real time, optimizing production workflows and reducing downtime.
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon technology offers a powerful and cost-effective solution for indoor positioning and navigation. By strategically placing BLE beacons throughout a facility, businesses can leverage the ubiquitous presence of smartphones to track objects and people with high accuracy, enabling a wide range of applications across various industries.
Kyuder Tsedenov
Navigine CMO
Expert Tips & Next Steps
When implementing a BLE solution, consider the following:
- System Accuracy: While RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is a simple method, newer Bluetooth® direction-finding technologies like Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) can provide sub-meter accuracy by analyzing the direction of radio signals.
- Scalability: Choose a solution that can easily expand with your business. Our Open Source solution offers powerful, customizable algorithms for developers to integrate into their projects, ensuring a flexible and scalable system.
Navigine's Open Source Solution
Navigine is a leader in indoor positioning, and we believe in the power of collaboration. That’s why we offer an Open Source solution that gives developers like you the freedom to build and customize. You can access, inspect, and modify our core source code to integrate powerful navigation and wayfinding algorithms directly into your projects. This approach fosters innovation and allows you to create a solution perfectly tailored to your needs, whether you're working in healthcare, logistics, or retail.
Navigine specializes in developing effective geolocation tools for businesses and offers a technological solution for indoor navigation with Bluetooth® beacons.
When you partner with us, you'll gain access to an easy-to-use Software Development Kit (SDK). This tool lets you quickly and accurately detect a user's location and create clear, precise routes inside any building. Our technology is designed to be a flexible foundation for a wide range of services, helping you get your project off the ground faster.
BLE is also effectively used in scenarios, where an enterprise needs to track its assets or equipment. More info about it here.
Are you interested in a BLE-based positioning system? Discuss more in a private free consultation:
