Optimisation-based deployment of beacons for indoor positioning using wireless communications and signal power ranking

Beacon-based indoor positioning is popular in recent years. In this work, the authors aim to enhance the positioning accuracy by proposing signal power ranking (SPR) and solving related optimisation-based deployment problem of beacons using wireless communication and Bluetooth 4.0 Bluetooth low-energy network technologies. The authors first adopt grid-based field to be the proposed deployment field. Second, they convert the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) to several levels called SPR. Third, an optimisation-based model for deployment problem of beacons in indoor positioning is proposed on the basis of the above two considerations. The proposed model is to minimise the number of beacons required under some fundamental conditions including full coverage and full discrimination, respectively. Finally, the algorithm of simulated annealing is applied to solve the linear programming problem in this model. By the optimal results, the user can obtain a vector table of RSSI for each location efficiently in the test field. On the other hand, the user in the test field can receive the beacon RSSI value at the same time. In order to determine the user's location, the received beacon RSSI value is compared with the values in the vector table.