Bluetooth AoA-The Best Indoor Positioning Technology in 2022

Because the GPS positioning we are familiar with is limited to outdoor environments, indoor positioning systems have to rely on other technologies. Bluetooth positioning is the best indoor positioning technologies of 2022.

Bluetooth direction search can reproduce GPS positioning on a smaller scale by adopting the mobile-centric Angle of Arrival (AOA) method, which can be used for indoor positioning system. The Bluetooth-based indoor positioning solution has made great progress compared with the traditional Bluetooth-based close beacon technology. Today, Bluetooth positioning can provide accurate and reliable positioning in indoor environments. Let Crepak give you a brief introduction of Bluetooth positioning.

Ⅰ. Bluetooth AoA positioning and indoor positioning system

AoA-based Bluetooth positioning systems have a gateway-centric architecture. In this case, the bluetooth beacon transmits a signal to the gateway, and the gateway calculates its position based on the data it receives from the bluetooth beacon. This model is a typical indoor positioning system (IPS).

Let me give an example to illustrate this point. Museum visitors can use their mobile phones to calculate their positions relative to the museum plane through the data transmitted over the network, so as to realize the navigation in the exhibition. Similarly, robots or autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) on industrial sites can use Bluetooth positioning engines to calculate their positions in real time and navigate around the site.

In systems that are based on Bluetooth AoA positioning, most of the power is consumed by the gateway rather than the bluetooth beacon, so this type of solution is best for devices such as beacons, phones and tablets that can run for long time. This architecture solution has been proven to be the best choice for the indoor Bluetooth low energy consumer market and the most effective solution for the consumer indoor positioning system. This means an unlimited number of devices can transmit the auxiliary positioning signals provided by itself and the gateway can calculate their own positions and send it back to the devices, so that users can completely control their position information because the data are only transmitted to the central network with users’ permission.

With the function of Bluetooth direction finding, the standardized method of radio direction search will be integrated into new Bluetooth chips and gateways over time, allowing any Bluetooth device to determine its position by calculating the direction of the Bluetooth signal through the gateway. In fact, these new Bluetooth gateways that are coming into market will be able to implement Bluetooth AoA positioning, The positioning engine can be activated on the gateway with a simple update. This technology will enable consumers to use any application and service based on Bluetooth positioning, which opens the door to a broad market opportunity for indoor positioning systems.

Ⅱ. Key advantages of AoA

In terms of indoor positioning, the fast-growing indoor positioning system market wants to realize what GPS has achieved in outdoor positioning, that is, to make LBS (Location Based Services) ubiquitous and accessible to everyone. So far, the full expansion of indoor positioning system services has been limited by factors such as technical performance, ecosystem maturity and consumer market readiness. Bluetooth positioning function is the next step in the development of Bluetooth technology. It takes the concept of positioning to a whole new level: from close positioning to continuous and accurate positioning. It removes the technical barriers to the development of indoor positioning systems.