iBeacon, Eddystone, Bluetooth, IoT sensor beacons, apps, platforms
In most cases beacons ‘just work’ but it’s sometimes the case that beacon detection is erratic. A beacon might be detected but not all the time. Problems can be due to the strength and/or quality of the received signal. The first step is to quantify the signal strength so you can measure it at various … Continue reading “Fixing Poor Bluetooth Beacon Radio Signals”
There’s new research from Oregon State University, USA and Peking University, Beijing, China on A Machine Learning Approach to Improve Ranging Accuracy with AoA and RSSI. Machine learning was used to determine the line-of-sight distance in a multipath (reflective) environment. Due to the multipath effect, acquired signals indoors have complex mathematical models. A machine learning … Continue reading “Using AI Machine Learning to Improve Ranging Accuracy”
Circuit Digest has a new tutorial ESP32 based Bluetooth iBeacon. ESP32 is a small single board computer that can easily be programmed to do different tasks. Many ESP32 boards include Bluetooth so it’s possible to program them to be an iBeacon. The article first explains how to detect beacons on Android using nRF Connect. This … Continue reading “Making an iBeacon Using ESP32”
There’s a useful recent Webinar at Nordic Semiconductor on Measuring distance with the Nordic Distance Toolbox. The Nordic Distance Toolbox (NDT) provides ways to measure the distance between two Nordic SoCs. An SoC (System on a Chip) is the main chip found in beacons and Nordic is one of the main manufacturers. The webinar covers … Continue reading “Measuring Distance with Bluetooth LE”
The Bluetooth SIG, the owner of Bluetooth standards, has a useful video introduction to Bluetooth® Location Services and High-Accuracy Direction Finding. It’s the 4th video from Embedded World 2020. Strangely, you need to view direct from the Bluetooth SIG site because this video isn’t available direct from Vimeo. Martin Woolley, Senior Developer Relations Manager, provides … Continue reading “Introduction to Bluetooth Direction Finding”
There’s recent research by Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada on Investigating Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Low-Energy Signal Characteristics for Integration in Vehicle–Pedestrian Collision Warning Systems. The paper looks into the comparative performance of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Classic (Bluetooth) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for integration in vehicle–pedestrian collision warning systems. More specifically, accuracy and functionality are considered … Continue reading “Bluetooth Vehicle–Pedestrian Collision Warning”
There’s new research from University of Catania, Italy on A Perspective on Passive Human Sensing with Bluetooth. The research identifies and discusses the factors and operating conditions that can result in varying accuracy. The paper explains the advantages of Bluetooth over WiFi for passive human sensing. It also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of RFID, … Continue reading “Passive Human Sensing Using Bluetooth”
As previously mentioned, we perform signal strength and stability tests across beacons. The data feeds into our consultancy work. Here are some high level observations. The following graph shows the standard deviation of the RSSI @ 1m, for some of our beacons, measured over a 60 second time period: Smaller bars are better and represent beaconswhose … Continue reading “Beacon Signal Stability Observations”
There’s new research from Universities in Piraeus, Greece and Berlin, Germany, together with U-Blox AG in Switzerland who create Bluetooth Angle of Arrival prototyping boards on Deep Learning-Based Indoor Localization Using Multi-View BLE Signal. Processing of Bluetooth Angle of Arrival usually requires radiogoniometry spectral analysis of radio in-phase and quadrature-phase (IQ) signals in order to … Continue reading “Using AI Machine Learning with Bluetooth Angle of Arrival (AoA)”
There’s useful research by Sindhumol S of Cochin University of Science and Technology, India on Implementation and Analysis of a Smart Team Management System using iOS Devices as iBeacon. The system provides location-based task monitoring and presence detection. Task details and announcements are available when a team member enters the range of an iBeacon broadcast. … Continue reading “Using iBeacon for Team Management”