What is indoor positioning?


It’s the ability of the Crownstones to know where you are if you carry a smart device with you. Crownstones use the position of this smart device through measuring Bluetooth Low Energy signals. This makes it possible for the Crownstones to react upon your presence and proximity.

map

Requirements for indoor positioning

To enable indoor positioning in your Crownstones the following is required:

 

  • To have a minimum of 4 Crownstones in the same sphere. The localization works best with at least two Crownstones per room.
  • To train the Crownstones by walking a few rounds in a specific room.
  • To have bluetooth enabled in your smartphone.
layout

The basics

Broadcast distance

 

A Crownstone or tag can broadcast from 5m to up to 50m while still contributing to indoor positioning.

broadcasting

Density

 

The more Crownstones, the higher the accuracy. As a rule of thumb, two Crownstones per room is sufficient for fingerprinting (see below).

minimum number of devices

Wireless fingerprints

 

The fingerpint classifier can learn to localize people per room. This is often more useful than so-called trilateration and an actual position in meters (or yards).

radar

Latency

 

Latency is an often neglected, but can be the main reason to choose more Crownstones. The better the results of a single step of the algorithms, the faster they end up at the right room or indoor position.

latency

Scenarios

scenario 1

You sit on the couch and it is getting dark

The lights in the room where you are can be turned on automatically. Presence information is needed to avoid lights going on even if you are not there!

scenario 2

Go to bed without worries

Forget about manually turning off stuff before going to bed. Lights and devices can be automatically turned off when you are not present in a room and after a certain time.

scenario 3

Because always it's better safe than sorry

Turning off outlets when an adult is not around gives peace of mind! Specially knowing that no one can play with it in a dangerous manner.

How accurate is it?

The accuracy depends on several factors, such as:

 

  • The quality of the training
  • The number of Crownstones and their location
  • The presence of metal appliances
  • The presence of people themselves

To know more details about each of these factors, we recommend you read this blog post.

accuracy

Learn more about indoor positioning