The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announces a direction finding feature with the potential to "significantly" enhance Bluetooth location services by allowing devices to determine the location of a Bluetooth signal.
Bluetooth location services fall in 2 categories-- proximity solutions and positioning systems. Proximity solutions use Bluetooth to understand when 2 devices are near each other, and how far apart. The category includes item finding solutions such as personal property tags, as well as point-of-interest (PoI) information solutions like proximity marketing beacons. The direction finding solution can allow proximity solutions to not only let a user know if if a personal property tag is in the area, but also the direction, enhancing the user experience.
Meanwhile positioning systems use Bluetooth to determine the physical location of devices, and include real-time locating systems (RLTS) and indoor positioning systems (IPS). Current Bluetooth positioning systems offer meter-level accuracy, but the SIG claims the direction finding solution can improve location accuracy down to centimeter-level.
“Location services is one of the fastest growing solution areas for Bluetooth technology, and is forecasted to reach over 400 million products per year by 2022,” the Bluetooth SIG says. “This is great traction and the Bluetooth community continues to seek ways to further grow this market with technology enhancements that better address market needs, demonstrating the community’s commitment to driving innovation and enriching the technology experience of users worldwide.”
The Bluetooth Core Specification 5.1 includes the direction finding feature. In addition Launch Studio, the Bluetooth SIG tool used to qualify new Bluetooth product, is being updated to support the feature.
Go Bluetooth Enhances Support for Location Services with New Direction Finding Feature
