Accuracy Study of Indoor Positioning with Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons

Currently, Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons are widely used for positioning, especially an indoor environment. However, there is still high error due to dense multipath fading that often occurs in the indoor environment. This paper presents the accuracy study of indoor positioning with BLE beacons. The indoor environment is the room of 91.8 m² with 3 BLE beacons. The user equipment (UE), iPhone XS Max, with Beacon Analyzer application is used to measure the received signal strength (RSS) of each BLE beacon. Fingerprinting technique with least root mean square (RMS) error matching is used to estimate the position of UE. The accuracy that obtained from single measurement and average five measurements is studied. The RSS fingerprint of each BLE beacon is shown. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of distance error is evaluated and illustrated. From the results, the average five measurements can reduce the average distance error about 0.86 m.