Title: Leveraging Bluetooth 5.1 location services for improved multilateration: a preliminary study on indoor asset tracking

Authors: Miguel Roque Soares; Tiago Rocha; Duarte Oliper; Vânia Guimarães; Ricardo Santos

Addresses: Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, R. Alfredo Allen 455/461, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal ' Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, R. Alfredo Allen 455/461, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal ' Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, R. Alfredo Allen 455/461, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal ' Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, R. Alfredo Allen 455/461, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal ' Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS, R. Alfredo Allen 455/461, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal

Abstract: Accurately tracking and managing indoor assets is crucial in many industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing, and warehousing. This exploratory study presents a new approach to indoor asset tracking using Nordic Semiconductor© innovative distance estimation techniques based on Bluetooth 5.1 physical layer updates. Our multilateration algorithm calculates the asset's exact location by leveraging distance estimates from multiple receivers over an extended period. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system through real-world experiments conducted in an office setting, which shows that our system can locate and track assets with an average error of approximately ∼2.1 m using a BLE receptor density of approximately ∼3 per 550 m². We also discuss our methodology, potential applications of our system, and future enhancements to improve the system's accuracy and expand its capabilities.

Keywords: indoor location; multilateration; BLE 5.1; radio link; RF; distance estimation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMNDI.2023.133243

International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation, 2023 Vol.10 No.4, pp.212 - 221

Received: 25 May 2023
Accepted: 09 Jun 2023
Published online: 03 Sep 2023 *