Technological Viability Assessment of Bluetooth Low Energy Technology for Indoor Localization

Localization in indoor built environments has considerable importance for the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. It has various use cases, including building occupancy detection, automated asset tracking in construction sites, supporting facility maintenance and operations, and guiding people in building emergency response operations. Although some initial studies examining the usability of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for indoor localization exist in the literature, there is still a gap for a comprehensive analysis that will lead to the establishment of a widely accepted BLE-based localization framework. Whereas existing studies mainly focus on radio signal properties and use only spatial accuracy and precision as their evaluation criteria, this study determines the technological viability of BLE through predetermined guidance parameters such as human body orientation, number of data collection points, number of real-time received signal strength index (RSSI) data samples, and fingerprinting creation approaches. In order to determine the viability of BLE-based localization, multiple field experiments are carried out in the building of a research center. Location fingerprinting method is used as the wireless localization technique and the $k$ -nearest neighbor algorithm is used to assess the feasibility of BLE technology for indoor localization. The results of the field experiments show that BLE technology can be used as a reliable solution for indoor localization because it gives better accuracy and precision results than existing approaches in the industry.