Indoor navigation system using BLE beacons application for Android devices

Bluetooth Low Energy

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signals from battery-driven beacons are at the core of the indoor location technology. It’s one of most prominent technologies that has emerged for indoor positioning and has become industry-standard available on most devices today. It uses so-called BLE beacons (or iBeacons) that are inexpensive, small, have a long battery life, and do not require an external energy source. The device (phone/watch etc.) detects the signal from the beacon and can roughly calculate the distance to the beacon, therefore estimating a users indoor location.
How does BLE based Indoor Positioning work?

1. Positioning the user

BLE beacons are the cornerstones of indoor positioning. With this technology, the device can detect when in range of a beacon and even calculate its position if in range of more than two beacons (see Trilateration vs Proximity detection).

The first positioning prototypes based on BLE were only able to detect which Beacon is closest to the user, but today we are able to use distance data from many beacons and position the user in 2D space on indoor map. Accuracy does vary depending on circumstances but can be as good as within +-1.5 meters (as achieved in the Eldheimar Museum). Organizations decide to use BLE positioning systems to provide a better experience to their visitors or customers. Location-based systems can bring benefits to almost any type of organization. For example:

Museums can deliver location-based narrations supported by a map of a venue to visitors, thus providing navigation and interactive learning.
In retail, indoor positioning systems can be used for location-based advertising, navigation, and delivery of other location-based content to customers.
Airports and hospitals could benefit from location-based data including turn-by-turn navigation.

The CMS web interface is used by organizations to manage their content, floor maps and beacon positions.