Determination Of Microlocation Using the BLE Protocol, and Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

This work deals with the determination of the location of an object with the help of an identification tag using wireless sensor networks. This uses an array of sensors distributed in the path. When the object with identification tag passes through the path, the sensors calculate the approximate distance from each of them with the help of a series of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) values. The data is collected and is displayed on a user interface provided. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol is used in the wireless sensor network. The RSSI values are mapped to corresponding distances by an initial training and this data is used for estimation of the distance. Path loss exponent and curve fitting methods are proposed for estimation of distance from the initial training data. Further, an error reduction method is also proposed for improving the accuracy of the estimation.