Are there any BLE mobile apps that depict indoor locations?

[Matthew K]

Hi, Nordic team. I'm planning to create an iOS 11 BLE app.

I want to create a BLE app that can approximately depict indoor locations after the iOS device scans BLE beacons(either iBeacon/Eddystone) for a while after entering an arbitrary building.

For instance, suppose there a one-story(only one floor) tall building, where the user has never been, that has 4 rooms, A to D, on the same floor.

Each room has BLE beacons with different advertising interval; Room A & D has 4 beacons whereas Room B & C has 8 beacons.

So after the user enters the building and goes to a room, I want the app to show 4 clusters (since there are 4 rooms) and guess what room he/she is in.

Are there mobile apps like this on the market?

Also, if I want to implement one, I think I have to use unsupervised learning or clustering algorithms.

Since beacons only have few data, what would be a good way to cluster beacons, like rely on RSSI values?

-Thanks for your answers!

[Bjørn Kvaale]

Hi,

I believe it is quite normal to use RSSI when using beacon indoor location tracking. You just have to be aware that the location accuracy is not ideal, as RSSI values are usually quite noisy. I believe Gatwick Airport in England has an app which is similar to your usecase. I would recommend taking a look at these links: link 1, link 2.

Kind Regards,

Bjørn

[Matthew K]

Hello!

Matthew K said:

after entering an arbitrary building.

I think those apps have prior knowledge to calculate indoor location tracking.

The airport has installed 2,000 beacons and those beacon locations will be stored, right?

Instead, I wanted to do an indoor location tracking(not an accurate one, just distinguish whether the user has entered room A/B)

when the user enters any building that has unknown beacons (don't know where the beacons are located, etc).

Then, this type of "almighty" app isn't shown on the market?

Also, is this achievable by collecting beacon data and do data processing?

[Bjørn Kvaale]

"The airport has installed 2,000 beacons and those beacon locations will be stored, right?" - Yes

Then, this type of "almighty" app isn't shown on the market? - You could take a look at the nRF Beacon application. Maybe that will help you out.

Also, is this achievable by collecting beacon data and do data processing? - Yes, you should be able to process the beacon location information on your phone to see which room you are in. Couldn't you just take the best RSSI value from the beacons & assume you are in that room? Would that be too crude of a solution?

[Matthew K]

Thanks for your answer Bjørn Kvaale

Bjørn Kvaale said:

Couldn't you just take the best RSSI value from the beacons & assume you are in that room?

In other words, the programmer has to insert UUIDs of "known" beacons to the app, right?

Those type of app, as far as I know, needs prior knowledge.

For instance, if a user knows nearby beacons' UUID and MAC address,

it will be simple to make a mobile app by typing this information.

Bjørn Kvaale said:

those beacon locations will be stored, right?" - Yes

However, this app cannot be used when going to an unknown area because the app doesn't have any UUID/MAC/location information at all.

I was searching for this "non-prior knowledge" based app from the market.

In short,

0) Have you seen this app in the market?

1) If implementing this, what can be used to create one?

-Thanks for your help!

[Bjørn Kvaale]

0) Nope

1) Could you not just broadcast the beacon position to the mobile phone? I do not think the programmer has to insert UUIDs of known beacons in the app. This would not be very useful if you have multiple thousands of beacons all over the place. You just need to figure out a way to filter out the correct beacons to use. I believe the gatwick app uses non prior knowledge.

[Matthew K]

Bjørn Kvaale said:

ou just need to figure out a way to filter out the correct beacons to use.

Thanks, Bjørn Kvaale. Are there any known methods for doing this?
Or are there solutions from Nordic to achieve this?

-Thanks for your help!

[Bjørn Kvaale]

I would recommend taking a look at the beacon transmitter example from the latest nrf5 sdk. It uses a 128 bitt UUID to identify the provider of the beacon. It also uses a manufacturer specific data field that should be the same for all beacons that you program the example with I believe.