iBeacon Technology in Welfare: A study of Bluetooth Low Energy for Indoor Positioning

Abstract

Nowadays people live longer and the general population is aging. This phenomenon affects health care services that are experiencing increased costs and pressure. As a result new technological solutions for assisting and preserving the health of the elderly are needed. In this thesis, a solution for determining the position of a person within a house are researched, implemented and evaluated. Background theory related to indoor positioning existing technologies and techniques is studied and presented.The result is an indoor positioning system that uses Bluetooth Low Energy to estimate the position with room level accuracy. It is shown how iBeacon technology is suitable to develop such system. The suggested solution is just a prototype and there still room for future research and improvement.It is exposed that such system may be a doable solution to some of the challenges that the health care sector is facing.