Bluetooth 5.1: An Analysis of Direction Finding Capability for High-Precision Location Services

Abstract

This paper presents an in-depth overview of the Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding standard’s potentials, thanks to enhancing the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) firmware. This improvement allows producers to create location applications based on the Angle of Departure (AoD) and the Angle of Arrival (AoA). Accordingly, it is conceivable to design proper Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS), for instance, for the traceability of resources, assets, and people. First of all, Radio Frequency (RF) radiogoniometry techniques, helpful in calculating AoA and AoD angles, are introduced in this paper. Subsequently, the topic relating to signal direction estimation is deepened. The Bluetooth Core Specification updates concerning version 5.1, both at the packet architecture and prototyping levels, are also reported. Some suitable platforms and development kits for running the new features are then presented, and some basic applications are illustrated. This paper’s final part allows ascertaining the improvement made by this new definition of BLE and possible future developments, especially concerning applications related to devices, assets, or people’s indoor localization. Some preliminary results gathered in a real evaluation scenario are also presented.

Coexistence Management in Wireless Networks-A Survey

“…• Gaming consoles • Industrial Bluetooth Mesh Networking [41] • BL based direction finding for cm level positional accuracy [42], [43] • Advertising services [44], [45] Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a variant of BL that uses 40 channel (2 MHz) as compared to 79 channels (1 MHz) of the classic BL. BLE is designed for prolonged low power operation and also supports for supports mesh networking.…”

Challenges and Opportunities for Simultaneous Multi-functional Networks in the UHF Bands

“…This extension does not carry any data [6], but allows the receiver to consecutively sample the symbols by switching between multiple antennas to determine the AoA information from the RF phase differences, thus mimicking multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technology (Fig. 2) [7]. Although being close to the strictly simultaneous JCAP with indoor sub-meter accuracy, there is still RF energy and channel occupancy intended for either communication or positioning, but not both simultaneously.…”

OA-Bug: An Olfactory-Auditory Augmented Bug Algorithm for Swarm Robots in a Denied Environment

“…The system itself is well optimized for accurate, fast and robust SSL performance, but in the first iteration of our deployment, we found that using sound was susceptible to interference and the transmission distance was too short. Fortunately, the new Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding standard can provide us with higher precision, a much longer range, and more robust source localization and tracking performance [30], making auditory feasible for swarm robots.…”

“…Although the Bluetooth signal is used to mimic the audible sound, no state data is shared. Our implementation takes advantage of the new Bluetooth 5.1 Direction Finding standard that can provide us with sub-meter precision, a much longer range (roughly 30-50 meters range with 4-0 walls blocking respectively tested by us), and more robust source localization and tracking performance than real sound [30].…”