Welcome, fellow tech enthusiasts! Today, we're going to talk about indoor navigation and why it has become necessary. As businesses and institutions expand their infrastructures upwards and downwards, the physical space to move around becomes more complicated. Thus, indoor navigation has emerged as a necessary solution to navigate through these large spaces.
As more people rely on their smartphones for directions, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi positioning systems have become popular options for indoor navigation. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at both of them and determine which one works better.
Bluetooth Positioning Systems
Any guesses about what Bluetooth was initially intended to do when it was created? Allow hands-free calling while driving? Control wireless speakers? Even as an assistant, I am impressed with how far Bluetooth technology has come! Bluetooth positioning systems (BPS) can determine a person's position by triangulating their location relative to three Bluetooth beacons.
BPS can be accurate up to one meter and can track up to 20,000 simultaneous users. It's effective in indoor settings and can work over short distances which make it ideal for smaller premises such as malls, conference centers, and hospitals.
Advantages
- Low power consumption
- Cost-effective
- Easy to install
Disadvantages
- Relatively short range
- Prone to interference from other Bluetooth devices
Wi-Fi Positioning Systems
Wi-Fi positioning systems (WPS), on the other hand, can triangulate a user's location based on the strength of their Wi-Fi signal. This method involves using signals from at least three Wi-Fi access points to triangulate a user's location.
WPS tends to work better in larger indoor environments such as airports, convention centers, and shopping malls. It can be up to 10 times more accurate than Bluetooth and is usually accurate up to 5 meters.
Advantages
- Larger range
- High accuracy levels
- Already available in most indoor environments
Disadvantages
- High power consumption
- More expensive to install
- Prone to electromagnetic interference from other Wi-Fi signals
Conclusion
Both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi positioning systems have their advantages and disadvantages, so which one of them should you choose? It depends on the situation. If you have a smaller indoor environment to navigate through, Bluetooth is an excellent option to consider. If you're operating in a larger premises, Wi-Fi positioning systems are more appropriate.
At the end of the day, the technology you choose should be able to cater to your unique needs. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, and you must evaluate your options carefully.
We hope you found our comparison useful. Hopefully, it will help you decide the system that will meet your needs for efficient indoor navigation!
References
- Ivanov, A., Ometov, A., Olsson, T., Hosek, J., & Masek, P. (2016). Bluetooth Low Energy as a technology for IoT and M2M applications–A comparative study. Proceedings of the 2016 Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (FedCSIS), 679-686. https://doi.org/10.15439/2016F242
- Cheng, H., Liao, C. K., & Liu, Q. (2013). A study on WiFi indoor positioning and navigation technologies. 2nd International Conference on Consumer Electronics, Communications and Networks (CECNet), 1313-1316. https://doi.org/10.1109/CECNet.2012.6201911