Bluetooth low power technology is used for positioning and tracking
Date：April 27, 2025 Views：44
Source: ON Mei Author: On Mei
With the development of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to version 5.2 and beyond, one of the most important advances is location tracking technology, which can be used indoors for the movement and location tracking of assets.
Bluetooth direction finding methods include connectionless mode and connection-oriented mode, because of its versatility, the technology can be used in a variety of different application scenarios. This adaptability opens up new possibilities for wireless communication and location services, promising exciting advances in the future.
Figure 1: Analysis of customer flow in retail stores, showing popular walking routes
One of the key markets for this technology is retail, where large stores want to better understand how customers flow through their stores to maximize their sales potential.Beyond retail, asset tracking technology can have a profound impact on industrial efficiency. It can be used to monitor material transport vehicles, reduce time waste and improve work efficiency. The technology can also be used to drive complex digital twins systems that accurately replicate actions in a virtual environment.
Asset tracking not only increases efficiency, but also plays an important role in ensuring safety. In warehouses and distribution centers, the application of tracking tags enables employees and industrial robots to coexist safely, eliminating the possibility of collisions by allowing robots to track employees' movements.
Basic system design principles
In order to set up a location detection system, an antenna array needs to be placed inside a building, whether it is a retail store, warehouse, hospital, airport, or other type of building. The array enables high precision position measurement.
The method used can be "Arrival Angle" (AoA) or "Departure Angle" (AoD). While both use the same radio frequency (RF) signal measurement, the signal processing and antenna configuration differ.
Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the position detection system
Typically, the system consists of three main parts: a Bluetooth transmitter (AoA tag), a receiver/antenna array (AoA locator), and an Angle and position calculation system. When operating, the AoA tag sends a constant tone extension (CTE) signal.This CTE signal travels outward in an expanding spherical pattern and is picked up by the antenna. Since the wavelength/frequency of the signal is known and the distance between the receivers is also known, the Angle of the signal can be calculated using a relatively simple triangulation method, thus determining the position of the transmitter based on the phase difference when the signal reaches each antenna.
Alternative methods and higher accuracy
By conducting two probes using two pairs of antennas, the exact location of the AoA tag can be triangulated with extremely high precision.
Another method that does not require Angle measurement is the trilateration method. The method is based on Time-of-Flight (ToF) measurements using Bluetooth 5.4's Channel Sounding (CS) feature or Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology to derive distances.
Also known as High Precision Distance Measurement (HADM), CS is considered by many to be a very accurate alternative to RSSI based distance measurement.
On Mei RSL15 AoA solution
The RSL15 from On is a Bluetooth 5.2 certified secure wireless microcontroller optimized for ultra-low power applications including industrial, medical and Angle of Arrival positioning (AoA). The device is based on an Arm operating at frequencies up to 48 MHz. Cortex? - The M33 processor is built with the encryption security function. It offers the lowest power consumption level in the industry, with a peak current of only 4.3 mA at launch, dropping to 36 nA in sleep mode while waiting for GPIO to wake up. The RSL15 microcontroller is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of tracking applications from retail, clinical Settings, manufacturing and distribution centers.
On's AoA solution uses RSL15 in both the transmitter (AoA tag) and the scanner/locator. This can be done using RSL15 and On's Software Development Kit (SDK), or, for more integrated solutions, the Murata 2EG RF SIP module with RSL15 integrated.
Figure 3: On's end-to-end AoA system consists of multiple modules
In the system, the transmitter (Advertiser) generates the CTE signal, which is received by the scanner. The resulting IQ sample is sent to a local PC or cloud-running application to calculate the Angle between the scanner and the tag. These angles are then converted to Cartesian coordinates and mapped to two - or three-dimensional space.Sample code for both applications is available for free from On's website, along with a power estimation tool that allows you to select a communication protocol based on battery life.
Other ON American partners involved in the project are CoreHW and Unikie. CoreHW offers antenna array boards with up to 16 single-ended antenna ports. There is an AoA/AoD switch for selecting the antenna as well as connecting RF and digital control signals.
Unikie offers a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) electronic location engine designed for real-time tag tracking. The engine supports data processing on edge servers or in the cloud, providing both flexibility and cost-effectiveness (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Unikie software engine for locating applications
API interfaces facilitate seamless integration with enterprise systems and provide access to complex data modeling. This provides a deeper understanding of material flow, utilization and behavior patterns, marking a significant advance in location-based services and asset management.Conclusion
For Bluetooth low power direction finding to be successful, it is critical that the solution be durable and affordable. With the industry's extremely low-power secure Bluetooth low-power MCUS, On Technologies is at the forefront of enabling future innovations in AoA.
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