Bluetooth Enhancing Location Services User manual

Brand: Bluetooth

Model: Enhancing Location Services

Type: User manual

Enhancing Bluetooth

Location Services with

Direction Finding

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table of

contents

1.0 Executive Summary ................................3

2.0 Introduction ......................................4

3.0 Bluetooth Location Services .........................5

3.1 Bluetooth Proximity Solutions 5

a. Point of Interest Information Solutions 5

b. Item Finding Solutions 6

3.2 Bluetooth Positioning Systems 6

a. Real-time Locating Systems 6

b. Indoor Positioning Systems 7

4.0 Bluetooth Direction Finding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4.1 Direction Finding Using Angle of Arrival Method 9

4.2 Direction Finding Using Angle of Departure Method 10

 4.3 BluetoothProleswithDirectionFinding 10

4.4 Enhancing Bluetooth Location Services Solutions

Using Direction Finding 11

5.0 Conclusion .......................................12

Executive Summary

The market opportunity for Bluetooth® locationserviceshasgrownrapidlyoverthelastfewyears,

withindustryforecastsnowpredictingover400millionproductsinthissolutionareashippingper

year by 2022

Today,Bluetoothpointofinterest(PoI)information

solutions are enhancing the visitor experience

withinmuseumsandretailstoresaroundthe

world.MillionsofpeoplerelyonBluetoothitem

ndingsolutionstotrackdownlostkeysand

other personal items. Bluetooth indoor positioning

systems(IPS)arehelpingmillionsoftravelers

navigate through busy airports and shoppers

throughmalls.Andwarehousesandfacilities

around the globe are using Bluetooth real-

timelocatingsystems(RTLS)tobettermanage

resourcesandoptimizetheowofmaterials.

Despitethistremendoussuccess,theBluetooth

community does not remain idle and continually seeks to enhance the technology. The community

recentlyaddedadirectionndingfeaturethathasthepotentialtosignicantlyenhancethe

performance of Bluetooth location services solutions.

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Source: ABI Research.

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Introduction

One key reason for the incredible success of Bluetooth is its unique approach to market. With

Bluetooth,developersgetmorethanjustaradiotechnology,theygetcomplete,full-stack,globally

interoperablesolutionsthataddressvariouswirelessconnectivityneeds.

Bluetoothdoesnotseektobethebestsolutionforallwirelessconnectivityneeds,butifyouare

adeveloperbuildingasolutionthatneedstostreamaudiobetweentwodevices,asolutionthat

needstotransferdatabetweentwodevices,alocationservicessolution,orasolutionwhere

youneedtohavetens,hundreds,oreventhousandsofdevicescommunicatingwitheachother

inasecure,reliablemeshnetwork,thenBluetoothstrivestobethebesttechnologyavailable.

Thisfocusondeliveringcomplete,globallyinteroperablesolutionsforspecicsolutionareashas

playedasignicantroleinestablishingBluetoothasthetechnologyofchoiceformanydeveloper

communities.AndtheBluetoothcommunityiscontinuallyworkingtoenhancethetechnologyto

better meet developer needs in these various solution areas.

The introduction

ofBluetoothLow

Energy in 2010

gave developers

the ability to

start leveraging

Bluetooth to

createpowerful,

low-costreal-time

locatingsystems,

indoor positioning

systems,item

ndingsolutions,

point of interest

(PoI)information

solutions,and

more.Injustafew

years,location

serviceshasbecomeoneofthefastestgrowingsolutionareasforBluetooth,anditisexpectedthat

over400millionBluetoothdevicessupportinglocationservicessolutionswillbeshippingperyearby

2022.

point-to-point point-to-point broadcast mesh

location

services

device

networks

data

transfer

audio

streaming

solution

topology

Bluetooth BR/EDR Bluetooth Low Energy

radio

Bluetooth Location Services

Untilnow,allstandardBluetoothlocationservicessolutionshavebeendevelopedusingthe

samebasicbuildingblock.TheyleveragetheBluetoothLowEnergyradiotodetermineiftwo

Bluetoothdevicesareinrangeofeachotherand,inmanycases,usereceivedsignalstrength(RSSI)

measurementstoestimatethedistancebetweenthetwodevices.Thatbasicabilitytodetermine

whetheranotherdeviceisnearbyandapproximatelyhowcloseasledtothecreationofanumberof

compellingBluetoothlocationservicessolutions.Thesesolutionsgenerallyfallintotwocategories:

proximity solutions and positioning systems.

Bluetooth Proximity Solutions

Proximitysolutionsarethesimplerofthetwo

categories and leverage Bluetooth to determine

thelocationoftwodevicesrelativetoeach

other.OneBluetoothdevice,generallya

smartphone,isusedtodetermineifanother

Bluetoothdeviceiswithinrangeand,inmany

cases,approximatelyhowfaraway.Pointof

interestinformationanditemndingaretwoof

the most popular Bluetooth proximity solutions.

PoI Information Solutions

Point of interest information solutions

wereoneoftherstBluetoothlocation

services to come to market. In a

PoIinformationsolution,small,

battery-poweredBluetooth

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Bluetooth Location Services

proximity solutions

item nding solutions

(e.g. personal property tags)

point of interest

information solutions

(e.g. proximity marketing)

positioning systems

real time locating

systems (RTLS)

(e.g. asset tracking)

indoor positioning

systems (IPS)

(e.g. waynding)

Many museums support smartphone apps that provide

visitors with additional information about nearby exhibits.

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transmitters,oftenreferredtoasbeacons,

are deployed throughout facilities to improve

the visitor experience. Beacons deployed

inmuseumscanprovidevisitorswithmore

informationaboutexhibitswhilebeaconsinretail

establishments can provide nearby shoppers

withadditionalproductinformation.Inthese

solutions,thevisitortypicallydownloadsan

application to their smartphone that enables the

Bluetooth radio in their phone to listen for nearby

beacons and then presents more information

to the user based on the beacon or beacons it

hears.

Item Finding Solutions

Itemndingsolutionshavebeenexperiencing

tremendousgrowthoverthelastfewyears.These

solutionsinvolvesmall,battery-poweredBluetooth

devices,oftenreferredtoaspersonalpropertytags,

thatcanbeattachedtomovableobjectslikeasetofkeysorawallet.Theyalsoincludeanapplication

thatenablestheBluetoothradioinsmartphonestolistenforandestimatethedistanceofspecic

tags.

Bluetooth Positioning Systems

Positioning systems use Bluetooth to determine the physical location of devices and involve more

sophisticatedinfrastructuredeployments.Real-timelocatingsystems(RTLS)andindoorpositioning

systems(IPS)aretwoofthemostpopulartypesofBluetoothpositioningsystems.

Real-time Locating Systems

Bluetooth RTLS solutions are used for both asset

trackingaswellaspeopletracking.Forexample,

these solutions can locate and track the position

ofpallets,forklifts,andworkersinawarehouse,

or ultrasound machines and patients in a

hospital,helpingtoensuresafetyand

optimize response time in an emergency.

Bluetooth RTLS solutions are based

on the deployment of Bluetooth

receivers,oftenreferredtoas

Item nding solutions help consumers locate misplaced

items. So long as the item is connected to a Bluetooth tag,

an app on their smartphone will let them know if the item

is nearby and approximately how close.

Using a Bluetooth RTLS solution, key resources in a

warehouse, like pallets, forklifts and workers, can be

easily located and tracked.

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locators,inxedlocationsthroughoutafacility.

The locators connect back to a centralized

server,oftenreferredtoasalocationengine.

Low-power,battery-operatedBluetooth

transmitters,commonlycalledtags,arethen

attachedtoallassets(orpeople)thatthesystem

is intended to track.

The tags are programmed to transmit a signal

onaperiodicbasis,thefrequencyofwhichis

determinedbasedonhowmobilethetracked

assetsareexpectedtobe,aswellashowreal-

time location estimates need to be. Each locator

continually reports back to the location engine

alltagsitcanhear,aswellasthereceivedsignal

strength(RSSI)fromeach.Thelocationengine

usesthatinformation,aswellastheknown

positionofeachlocator,toestimatetheposition

of tags based on a process called trilateration.

Trilaterationdeterminesthepositionofanobject

byunderstandingitsdistancefromthreeknown

referencepoints.InthecaseofBluetooth,locators

estimate their distance to any given asset tag based

on the received signal strength from the tag.

Theaccuracyoflocationestimatesisinuenced

byseveralfactors,includingtheoorplanofthe

facility and the number of locators deployed.

Current standard Bluetooth RTLS solutions can

providemeter-levelaccuracy(~1to10meters).

Indoor Positioning Systems

Bluetoothindoorpositioningsystemspower

wayndingsolutionsthathelpvisitors,suchas

shoppersinamall,travelersinanairport,or

workersinalargeocebuilding,navigate

theirwaythroughoutafacility.

BluetoothIPSsolutionsworkintheoppositewayasRTLSsolutions.InsteadofBluetooth

receivers,Bluetoothtransmitters,commonlyreferredtoaslocatorbeacons,are

deployedinxedlocationsthroughoutafacility.Visitorsthenuseanappontheir

tag

Locator

Locator Locator

Location

Engine

Bluetooth asset tracking system based on RSSI

and trilateration.

Locator

Beacon

Locator

Beacon

Locator

Beacon

Bluetooth IPS system based on RSSI and trilateration.

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smartphone that enables the Bluetooth radio in

the phone to listen for locator beacons. Based

onwhichbeaconstheappcanhear,alongwith

thereceivedsignalstrength(RSSI)fromeach

andtheirknownlocations,theappisableto

usetrilateration,thesameprocessusedinRTLS

solutions,tocalculateitscurrentposition.

LikeRTLSsolutions,thelocationaccuracyof

BluetoothIPSsolutionsisinuencedbyseveral

factorsincludingtheoorplanofthefacility,

aswellasthenumberofxedlocatorbeacons

deployed,butcurrentsystemscanprovide

meter-levelaccuracy(~1to10meters).

Bluetooth IPS solutions, such as those for waynding, are

helping travelers nd their way through airports around

the world.

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Bluetooth Direction Finding

While Bluetooth location services have

seen tremendous success based on current

capabilities,thereismarketdemandforsolutions

that can provide even greater performance.

Forexample,insomeRTLSdeployments,itis

important for the system to provide location

accuracydowntocentimeter-level.Fortunately,

awell-establishedcapabilityhasrecentlybeen

addedtoBluetoothtechnologythatwillenable

the development of location services solutions

that can achieve these advanced performance

requirements.

Radiodirectionndingreferstothepracticeof

determiningthedirectionfromwhichareceived

signalwastransmitted.Radiodirectionnding

hasbeeninpracticesincetheearlytwentieth

century and is used in systems to support

everything from aviation and nautical navigation

towildlifetracking.

Inversion5.1oftheBluetoothCoreSpecication,Bluetoothaddedanoptionaldirectionnding

capability.Usingthisnewfeature,aBluetoothdevicecandeterminethedirectionofasignalbeing

transmitted from another Bluetooth device. This seemingly basic capability has the potential to

signicantlyenhanceBluetoothlocationservicessolutions.

Asdiscussedabove,BluetoothlocationservicesarecurrentlyusingRSSItoestimatethedistance

betweentwodevicesand,inthecaseofRTLSandIPSsolutions,usethosedistanceestimatesand

trilaterationtodeterminethepositionofadevice.Now,withdirectionnding,thosesamedevices

canalsouseinformationaboutthedirectionofanotherdeviceand,forRTLSandIPSsolutions,use

triangulation to improve location accuracy.

TheBluetoothdirectionndingfeaturesupportstwomethodsfordeterminingthedirectionofa

Bluetoothsignal,bothofwhicharebasedontheuseofanantennaarray;angleofarrival(AoA)and

angleofdeparture(AoD).

Direction Finding Using Angle of Arrival Method

Intheangleofarrival(AoA)method,thedevicetowhichdirectionisbeingdetermined,

suchasataginanRTLSsolution,transmitsaspecialdirectionndingsignalusinga

singleantenna.Thereceivingdevice,suchasalocatorinthatsameRTLSsolution,

Since the early twentieth century, radio direction nding

has been used to support everything from aviation and

nautical navigation to wildlife tracking.

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hasmultipleantennaarrangedinanarray.Asthetransmittedsignalcrossesthearray,thereceiving

deviceseesasignalphasedierenceduetothedierenceindistancefromeachoftheantennainits

arraytothetransmittingantenna.ThereceivingdevicetakesIQsamplesofthesignalwhileswitching

betweentheactiveantennainthearray.BasedontheIQsampledata,thereceivingdevicecan

calculatetherelativesignaldirection.TheAoAmethodofdirectionndingisintendedforusewith

RTLS,itemnding,andPoIinformationlocationservicessolutions.

Direction Finding Using Angle of Departure Method

Intheangleofdeparture(AoD)method,thedevicetowhichdirectionisbeingdetermined,suchas

alocatorbeaconinanIPSsolutions,transmitsaspecialsignalusingmultipleantennaarrangedinan

array.Thereceivingdevice,suchasamobilephoneinthatsameIPSsolution,hasasingleantenna.

Asthemultiplesignalsfromthetransmittingdevicecrosstheantennainthereceivingdevice,the

receivingdevicetakesIQsamples.BasedontheIQsampledata,thereceivingdevicecancalculate

therelativesignaldirection.TheAoDmethodofdirectionndingisintendedforuseinIPSsolutions,

suchasthoseusedforwaynding.

Bluetooth Proles with Direction Finding

FormanyBluetoothfeatures,prolespecicationsarepublishedthatdenehowtodevelop

interoperableBluetoothproductsthatimplementthefeature.Forexample,theBluetooth

HeadsetProledeneshowtodevelopinteroperableaudioheadsetsusingBluetooth.

ThisisalsotrueforthenewBluetoothdirectionndingfeature.Severalnewproles

areintheirnalstagesofdevelopmentandareexpectedtobereleasedsoon,

AoA Method AoD Method

AoA AoD

Transmitter Receiver

Receiver

Transmitter

Bluetooth direction nding using angle of arrival (AoA)

Bluetooth direction nding using angle of departure (AoD)

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includingaproleforproductsimplementingdirectionndingusingtheAoAmethodandaprolefor

products implementing it using the AoD method.

Enhancing Bluetooth Location Services Solutions Using Direction Finding

TheBluetoothcommunityaddeddirectionndingcapabilityinresponsetomarketdemandfor

Bluetooth based location services solutions that could deliver even greater performance. By adding

thedirectionndingfeature,Bluetoothproximitysolutionscanadddirectionalcapabilitieswhile

Bluetooth positioning systems can improve location accuracy.

Item Finding Solutions–ShouldsmartphonevendorschoosetoincludeBluetoothdirectionnding

withAoAsupportintheirproducts,itemndingsolutionscouldbeenhancedtoprovidedirectional

information.Withdirectionndingsupport,inadditiontoidentifyinghowcloseamisplaceditemis,

anitemndingapplicationonasmartphonecouldalsodeterminetheitem’sdirection,improvingthe

user experience.

PoI Information Solutions–PoIinformationsolutionscouldalsobenetfromdirectionndingwith

AoAbeingaddedtosmartphones.Imaginearoominamuseumwithmultipleexhibitsthathave

associatedbeacons.Withdirectionndingsupport,aPoIinformationapplicationonasmartphone

couldnotonlyinformauserofalltheexhibitsintheroomandallowthemtoselectonetoreceive

additionalinformation,buttheusercouldsimplypointtheirsmartphoneataspecicexhibittoget

more information on that item.

RTLS Solutions –Byimplementingdirectionnding,RTLSsolutionscouldimprovelocationaccuracy

downtocentimeter-level,dependingondeploymentconsiderations.BydeployingaRTLSsolution

withdirectionndingsupport,afactorycouldtrackthelocationandowofmaterialswithgreater

precision,aswellastrackandalertworkersbeforetheygointounsafeworkareas.

IPS Solutions –IPSsolutionswithdirectionndingsupportdeployedinhospitalsorshoppingmalls

could provide even greater positioning accuracy to improve the navigation experience or require the

deploymentoffewerlocatorbeacons.

Conclusion

TheBluetoothcommunityiscontinuallyenhancingthetechnologytoaddressnewmarket

opportunitieswhilemeetingtheever-expandingneedsofthemarketsinwhichitalreadyparticipates.

WiththeintroductionoftheBluetoothLowEnergyradio,thecommunitysoughttoaddressthe

marketopportunityforstandardized,lower-costlocationservicessolutions.WithBluetoothlocation

servicessolutionsnowpredictedtobeshipping400millionproductsperyearby2022,itwould

appear the community has been successful in achieving that goal.

However,thecommunityneversitsstill.DespitethesuccessBluetoothlocationservicessolutions

haveseenbasedoncurrentcapabilities,thecommunitysawmarketdemandforsolutionsthat

coulddeliverevengreaterperformance,suchasBluetoothRTLSsolutionsthatcouldachievetrue

centimeter-levellocationaccuracy.Tomeetthisneed,thecommunityaddedadirectionnding

feature to Bluetooth.

Theadditionofdirectionndingbringsestablished,time-testedmethodsfordeterminingsignal

directiontoaproven,trustedradio.ThisfeaturewillenableBluetoothproximitysolutionstoadd

directionalcapabilitiesthatenhancetheuserexperienceaswellasBluetoothpositioningsystemsthat

canaddressthefullspectrumofpositioningusecases,fromcommonlowresolutionsystemstothe

most precise.

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Bluetooth Enhancing Location Services User manual

Brand: Bluetooth

Model: Enhancing Location Services

Type: User manual

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Bluetooth Enhancing Location Services User manual

Bluetooth Enhancing Location Services User manual

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