Trust MOKOSmart for Your Bluetooth Location Projects

Do you need to locate or track items and employees, find directions and other essential data in your facility more quickly? Bluetooth location solutions are what you need. MOKOSmart offers a range of reliable location services, from general proximity to high accuracy, improving the visitor experience and operational efficiency.

Bluetooth Location Sensors

Industry of Bluetooth Location Solution

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) was introduced in 2010. It enabled developers to start using Bluetooth as a solution for different application indoor positioning, real-time locating, point of interest (PoI) information solutions, item finding solutions, and more. In the past few years, locating services have emerged as the fastest developing solution for Bluetooth. Thus, it is anticipated that by 2023, more than 400 million Bluetooth devices that support the solutions for locating services are expected to be shipped annually.

Total Bluetooth Location Sevices Implementations

Annual Bluetooth Location Services Devices Shipments

Total Bluetooth Location Sevices Implementations

Annual Bluetooth Location Services Devices Shipments

Application of Bluetooth Location Solutions

Bluetooth location services instantaneously make spaces easier to explore with indoor navigation. They establish unexpected indoor practices for different industries such as retails, transportation, health care, hospitality, corporate enterprises, and many others.

Indoor Navigation

80% of airport CIOs see indoor navigation as a major technology program by 2021

One of the primary RF standards for physical asset management is Bluetooth Low Energy. Most organizations in various industries use Bluetooth technology to track the status and live locations of their essential assets and equipment.

Asset Management

65% of enterprises will require indoor location asset tracking by 2022

You can easily find your missing item without relying on any assistance from anyone once you tag your valuable personal items with a Bluetooth tracker.

Personal Item Finding

300 million Buletooth tags are projected to ship each year by 2023

Bluetooth location services ensure that individuals in a facility are safe and secure from any harm. BLE beacons, sensors, and personal tags can be used by organizations to establish visibility to the employee’s location to control a large number of location-aware use cases.

Personnel Tracking

Workers can use a Bluetooth enabled device to easily access and securely control a restricted area in a facility. Devices fitted with the access control feature such as smartphones can be used to enhance the general security of a facility.

Access Control

Retailers can use Bluetooth location services to send promotions and discounts to their frequent customers and prospective clients. This significantly attracts more customers, thus increasing sales.

Proximity Marketing

BLE beacons are used in PoI information solutions to enhance visitors’ experience in a facility. For instance, shoppers can deploy beacons in their establishment to enable customers to attain extra information regarding a particular product easily. Also, BLE beacons can be deployed in museums to offer more details concerning exhibits to the guests visiting the facility.

Point of Interest Information

Bluetooth Technology Offers Radio Positioning Solutions

By powering rapid developments in real-time locating system (RTLS) solution shipments, Bluetooth technology plays a significant role in tracking assets and people. Also, the Bluetooth indoor positioning systems (IPS) have turned out to be the standard for indoor navigation solutions. Thus, visitors can use IPS to locate their way through complex amenities.

Benefits of Using Bluetooth Location

Bluetooth location solutions open various prospective opportunities to an organization. Below are the top advantages of using Bluetooth location services.

Choose our Bluetooth Location Solution

MOKOSmart is an original IoT manufacturer for Bluetooth smart devices, such as Bluetooth beacon, Bluetooth module, and gateway, etc. Our location solution can help you boost productivity, enhance experience, and improve operational efficiency.

Bluetooth devices from MOKOSmart

MOKOSmart has rich experience in developing and manufacturing Bluetooth-enabled devices. We offer different Bluetooth-enabled devices and IoT products to the global market for smart devices. Currently, we design, manufacture, and sell various Bluetooth-enabled devices that include; Bluetooth beacons, Bluetooth modules, Bluetooth gateways, and Bluetooth plugs.

Bluetooth beacon
Bluetooth beacon continually broadcast a single signal identifiable by other devices. Rather than releasing visible light, Bluetooth beacons transmit radio signals at a regular interval of roughly 1/10th of a second. MOKOSmart customizes Bluetooth beacons that suit the preference of the client. Our BLE-beacons are cost-effective as they are developed to use less power. You can choose the beacon from our website that suits you best.

Bluetooth module
MOKOSmart is an expert producer of Bluetooth modules. Our collection of Bluetooth modules are developed to offer strong performances, simple implementations, and easy global certifications to customers. At MOKOSmart, there are various Bluetooth 4.2 and Bluetooth 5.0/5.1/5.2 modules available, all of which are efficient for use in any Bluetooth project. All our modules supports temperature, accelerator, and NFC sensors as they are based on Nordic nRF52840, nRF52833, nRF52832, nRF52820, nRF52811, nRF52810, nRF52805 nRF series chip. Some of the Bluetooth modules available at MOKOSmart are MK01A, MK01B, MK02D, MK02E, MK05A, MK05B, and many others.

Bluetooth gateway
At MOKOSmart, we design and customize Bluetooth gateway devices for our customers. A Bluetooth gateway device allows the user to easily send information from a Bluetooth device to the cloud without any alterations. Bluetooth gateway devices available at MOKOSmart include; MKGWI BLE Wi-Fi gateway, MK107 BLE to Wi-Fi gateway, MKGW-mini BLE to Wi-Fi gateway, and MK103 ESP32 BLE gateway.

Bluetooth plug
Moreover, MOKOSmart also provides a one-stop IoT solution for Bluetooth smart plugs. We manufacture different types of Bluetooth smart plugs for use in various countries. Altogether, our Bluetooth plugs support the wireless connectivity of various IoT devices in a way that meets the requirements and functionality of the user’s use cases. Some of the smart plug products available at MOKOSmart are; MK114B, MK115B, and MK116B. They’re ideal for smart home and smart industry devices control.

How Bluetooth location Services Work

Bluetooth Low Energy indoor positioning solutions use sensors or beacons enabled to sense and trace the position of the broadcasting Bluetooth devices, for instance, smartphones or tracking tags in interior spaces. Location data sent to mobile devices by beacons or collected by the sensors is later taken in by different locating applications. It is then interpreted into insights that power the various location-aware applications.

Sensor BLE Positioning
Sensors enabled with BLE are used in Bluetooth positioning, where they are deployed in set positions all over an indoor space. Based on the strength of a signal received in a transmitting device, these BLE-enabled sensors inactively senses and locates transmissions from BLE beacons, smartphones, wearable, asset tracking tags, workforce badges, and other Bluetooth gadgets.
Once the location data is collected, it is later sent to a real-time location system (RTLS) or the iBeacon indoor positioning system. A location engine analyses the location data that establishes the transmitting device’s location using multi-laceration algorithms. Those set coordinates can be used to visualize the location of an asset or device.

Beacons BLE Positioning
Bluetooth Low Energy signals are constantly pulsed out by BLE beacons. The surrounding devices, i.e. BLE-enabled sensors or smartphones, receive these signals. When BLE-beacons are set up in predetermined positions all over interior space, the signal constantly transmitted by each beacon has a unique identifier. Depending on the used communication protocol, the beacon periodically sends the unique identifier code together with other data.
When in the beacon’s range, the device set with pre-configured services or installed with a dedicated application uses a user-centric approach to collect and examine the signal from the beacon or a server-centric approach to send the collected data to a server. Proximity-based location services that establish if the beacon and device are in close ranges are determined by detecting the device and one beacon.
When many beacons are strategically sited all over interior space, the device can be positioned through RSSI multi-lateration by the communication between a wireless device and more than three beacons. The device’s determined location can activate a particular action or be leveraged for various applications based on the application. Moreover, when Bluetooth is fixed on valuable items, it plays a significant role in indoor location tracking using Bluetooth proximity beacons.

Comparing Different IoT technologies that Support Location Positioning

The table below compares different IoT technologies that support location positioning.

	BLE	GPS	NFC	RFID	WI-FI
Security	BLE devices transmit outbound signals. Thus, there are no security risks when broadcasting	The servers communication servers and receivers of GPS devices contributes to security risks	Supports encryption and short ranges hence fundamentally very secure	High security as the technology is protected by the standard IP network security feature	Very safe as it is protected with the security access feature
Compatibility	Compatible with all Bluetooth V4.0 and above	Requires a unique compatible receiver	Compatible with chips installed with NFC	Compatible with similar RFID readers of the same frequency band	Only compatible with WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad devices
Cost	Less costly	Costly	Costly	More costly	Cost varies significantly
Power consumption	Most BLE devices are battery-powered, and they consume less power	GPS devices consume more power	Requires no power to function as NFC tags creates their power	Consumes more power	High power consumption
Accessibility	Highly accessible	Easy to access using mobile devices enabled with a GPS receiver	Compatible with mobile device in contact close with the product	Requires hardware and firmware to process a signal at particular frequencies	Users have to allow their devices to access Wi-Fi
Privacy	Requires the consent of the user to interact and send data to other devices	Violates the liberal rights of an individual as someone can easily track the movement of any device equipped with GPS	Not intrusive as NFC tags can be easily tracked	Can easily leak personal information	Requires no permission to access hence highly sensitive to security risks
Accuracy	Not very accurate	More accurate	Averagely accurate	More accurate	Very accurate

Among these technologies, BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is the best to use in your location positioning solutions. This is because the Bluetooth technology is developed to use less power and is easy to use. Moreover, Bluetooth devices transmit radio signals at an average interval of roughly 1/10th of a second. The Bluetooth technology is also easy to access and not prone to security risks as the user is notified before connecting to other devices.

Bluetooth Direction Finding

Radio direction-finding is the practice of establishing the transmission direction of a signal received. Since the early twentieth century, the radio direction finding feature has supported everything in a system, from wildlife tracking to nautical navigation and aviation.
This optional direction-finding capability was added as a core specification of Bluetooth v5.1. Bluetooth devices use this new feature to establish the transmission direction of a signal from another Bluetooth device. This is capable of enhancing the solutions of Bluetooth location services effectively.
In the Bluetooth direction finding feature, there are two methods that use antenna arrays to determine the direction of a Bluetooth signal. The two methods are
• The angle of arrival (AoA) method
• Angle of departure (AoD) method

Using Bluetooth AoA Method
When finding directions using the AoA Bluetooth method, a unique signal using a single antenna is transmitted by the device that determines the direction like the RTLS solution tags. The device receiving the signal has numerous antennas, all positioned in an array.
The receiving device also experiences a signal phase difference when the signal transmitted crosses the array. This occurs because of the distance difference between an array in each antenna and the transmitting antenna. When switching in between the array’s active antenna, the receiving device always takes the signal’s IQ samples. The receiving device further uses the IQ sample data it collects to calculate the direction of a relative signal. The AoA method is suitable for item finding, real-time location services, and Point of Interest information solutions.

Using Bluetooth AoD Method
In the angle of departure (AoD) method, a unique signal that uses various antennas arranged in an array is transmitted by the device, determining the direction, for instance, a locator beacon in IPS solutions. The device receiving directions has one antenna.
Also, the receiving device collects the signal’s IQ samples once the signals from the device transmitting start crossing the antenna. The receiving device uses the IQ sample data to calculate the direction of the relative signal. Primarily, the AoD direction-finding method is used in finding IPS solutions.

Enhancing Bluetooth Location Services Solutions Using Direction Finding

The direction-finding feature improves accuracy in Bluetooth location positioning systems and enables Bluetooth proximity solutions to put in more directional capabilities. This feature was added due to the demand for Bluetooth based location services solutions that offer enhanced performance.

Item Finding Solutions – Other than identifying the position of a misplaced item, the Bluetooth direction finding feature improves a user’s experience as it quickly establishes the direction of an item.

PoI Information Solutions – The Bluetooth direction finding feature supports the solutions for PoI information. A user can use this feature in exhibit rooms to select and receive extra information regarding a commodity of choice. Moreover, users can use this feature to access data regarding a particular item by simply pointing out their smartphones at a specific exhibit.

RTLS Solutions – When integrated into the RTLS solution, the Bluetooth direction finding feature accurately tracks the location of an item with better precision. Moreover, the feature also tracks and notifies employees whenever they head into risky working zones.

IPS Solutions – Hospitals and shopping malls can deploy IPS solutions supported with the direction-finding feature to improve their positioning accuracy. By only deploying a few locator beacons, the feature dramatically enhances the navigation experience in IPS solutions.

Impact of Bluetooth location solutions during covid-19

Governments and states all over the world are popularly using Bluetooth location solutions in a rush to track and minimize the emergence of new cases of Covid-19. They are achieving this by using a Smartphone app-enabled to the Bluetooth technology. Moreover, most people are highly encouraged to download and use the app.

Bluetooth is the most used technology for curbing Covid-19 as it is more accurate when it comes to proximity identification. Unquestionably, Bluetooth technology is the most diminutive tracking form for location solutions since smartphone applications are used for proximity instead of the actual location, such as GPS and cell tower data.

During the Covid-19 crisis, the Bluetooth based devices were used mainly as interaction tracking tools for location solutions and services. In this context, local data is shared in line with Bluetooth policies. For instance, the data of a connected Bluetooth device remains unshared till the user come into contact with somebody infected with the Covid-19 virus. Although it is uncertain if anonymization will be possible in reality, Bluetooth location solutions can deanonymize huge population swaths.

When appropriately implemented, Bluetooth location solutions can be used to share sensitive personal data, such as the number of Covid-19 cases reported in an area.

The Overall Market of Bluetooth Application

One of the fastest developing Bluetooth applications is the device network. Other use cases that are experiencing significant growth are commercial lighting and smart homes, both of which are expected to contribute to a 34% CAGR in the next five years. Moreover, it is anticipated that between 2021 and 2025, there will be a 4.4x exceptional growth in the number of Bluetooth devices shipped annually.

However, the solutions for device networks were primarily influenced by the emergence of COVID-19. In 2019, the demand for Bluetooth home automation solutions proliferated as most individuals spent more time indoors. Thus, Bluetooth plays a significant role in connecting and making our lives more convenient and safe.

Solutions to Meet Market Needs

Audio Streaming – Bluetooth eliminates the need for wires on headphones, mouse, and other devices. Bluetooth technology has transformed how we consume audio and video files.

Data Transfer – The Bluetooth technology links numerous devices every day, from fitness trackers to household items, equipment and medical appliances. Bluetooth has also facilitated the development of different devices.

Location Services – Bluetooth can be used in positioning systems like Bluetooth beacons for indoor positioning and real-time locating systems (RTLS) for asset tracking. Moreover, it is effective in proximity solutions such as item finding and point of interest information (POI) solutions.

Device Networks – Most systems are controlled, monitored, and automated using Bluetooth mesh networking. The network offers a reliable and secure communication platform that allows devices to communicate with one another easily.