Location aware system using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

Abstract

This report presents the experimental evaluation of a Bluetooth-based Office Navigation System using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. This experimental navigation system consists of multiple BLE-capable CC2650STK SensorTags acting as location beacons to aid position estimation, and an Android application running on a BLE-capable Android device for retrieving the broadcasted information from the beacons to perform position estimation. The indoor scenario used in this project is Section C of the SCSE Faculty Office, where a BLE beacon is placed at the door of each of the office rooms. With the short door-to-door distance in the office environment, the surroundings of the user are in his/her range of sight most of the time, so there is scarcely the need for additional position estimation methods other than just relying on the location beacons, as it is more robust due to the short distance. Other than providing location information to the navigation application (BLENav) developed in this project, the BLE beacons can also be configured using the configuration application (BLEConf) developed to provide information about each of the staff in the office. Usually, any student who wish to speak with a professor (e.g. for consultation purpose) will go to the professor’s office to find him/her directly. If the professor is not in the office, the student will have no choice but to keep coming back regularly to the office to check if the professor is back. This is very tedious, as the student may have lessons to attend and other stuff to attend to. With the aid of this system, the student can check if the professor is in the office, and if he/she is not in, the student can get to know the approximated date and time the professor will be back, and the student will get to save valuable time which he/she can use for studying.