Evaluation of Bluetooth 5.1 as an Indoor Positioning System

Abstract: There is a high demand for Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) due to the wide application possibilities. The main issue for localization by wireless signals in an indoor environment is the multipath propagation problem. Multipath propagation occurs when signals reflects and refract from an object, changing the signals characteristics. Today there is no IPS that can balance the cost, accuracy, and complexity. In January 2019 Bluetooth released a new standard, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.1, which enables the ability to measure the Angle of Arrival (AoA) of an incoming signal. The purpose of this thesis is to mitigate the disturbances caused by multipath propagation by conducting a case study. This was done by designing systems that combine different positioning techniques with sensor fusion and evaluating them based on power efficiency, execution time and precision. Two wireless localization techniques were evaluated, trilateration and triangulation, which are based on Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and AoA respectively, along with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). An Extended Kalman Filter EKF was used to fuse the sensor data. The system with the best overall performance uses the AoA signals and a multipath mitigation technique. The system with AoA and IMU had a similar performance but has an overall higher complexity due to the added IMU component. The RSSI system could not satisfy the requirement of precision.