Tools to determine exact location when using ibeacons

Question

We are working with a Retail client who would like to know if using multiple iBeacons throughout the store would help track a customer\'s exact location when they are inside the

Answer 1

I have not done the extensive research that I believe went into Phil's above master's thesis, but...

There is another team that has claimed to have figured this out using various AI algorithms . See this linkedin post: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/6510475/6510475-5866674142035607552

As someone who develops beacons ( http://www.getgelo.com ) I can share first hand that pretty much any object will drastically change the consistency and accuracy of the RSSI which is going to make computing an exact position impossible. (Phil, I hope you prove me wrong, I haven't read your thesis yet).

If are the only person in a wide open space that has a grid of beacons then you can likely get this to work, but as soon as you add other people, walls, objects, etc, then you're SOL.

You can approximate location which is what iBeacons do and are pretty bad at, but it's directionless.

You could deploy enough beacons so that essentially wherever you are in a retail location you're standing very close to a beacon and you can have high confidence that you're in aisle 5 about 20 ft done (as opposed to being on the other side of aisle, aisle 6, and 20 ft down). Cost may become an issue here.

There are teams that are combining BLE with Wifi and other technologies to create a more accurate indoor positioning solution.

In short, and this will come as an echo of what's already been posted, BLE is not a good technology to be used solely for extremely accurate positioning.