Title: Real-time indoor positioning and route guidance system by using beacons

Authors: Sajjad Memon; Muhammad Ali Memon; Faheem Abassi; Fayaz Ahmed Memon; Majid Hussain Memon; Muhammad Ali Nizamani

Addresses: Dr. A.H.S. Bukhari Institute of Information and Communication Technology, University of Sindh Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan ' Department of Information Technology, University of Sindh Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan ' Department of Information Technology, University of Sindh Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan ' Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering Science and Technology Nawabshah, Sinddh, Pakistan ' Department of Electronic Engineering, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering Science and Tedchnology Nawabshah, Sinddh, Pakistan ' Department of Information Technology, University of Sindh Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract: Real-time tracking of objects an indoor environment has become important in numerous industries, including shopping, logistics, advertising, and healthcare. This paper represents a smartphone-based real time indoor positioning and route guidance system that employs BLE beacons. The system's main goal is to track a target's real-time location, such as a smartphone user, and guide them in a specific direction. The system combines location data and some contextual of pedestrians' movement directions to assist pedestrians in navigating to their destinations, such as the building's exit. The system is consists of three components: beacon devices, a user's smartphone app that communicates with beacons and gives navigation guidance to users, and the building's floor plan database. Localisation approach based on the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is used. In addition, a new building's floor plan based on database approach is proposed. The experimental results have shown that even with only two placed beacons, the proposed system could achieve satisfactory accuracy.

Keywords: beacons; Bluetooth low energy; BLE; received signal strength indicator; RSSI; indoor positioning; internet of things; IoT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIEI.2023.132698

International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics, 2023 Vol.11 No.2, pp.97 - 121

Received: 05 Feb 2023
Accepted: 27 Mar 2023

Published online: 08 Aug 2023 *

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