CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-bluetoothaltbeaconbeaconeddystone
Sara Alberola
Sara Alberola

Reputation: 73

Android Beacon Library distance measurement

I have followed the tutorial from RadiusNetwork to get the distance from a beacon using Android Beacon Library. I have read that it gives some fluctuations but I have three beacons in a room that is 7m x 7m one in each corner. With this, while sitting on a corner i have one in front of me (less that 0.2m) the other one at 10m (aprox, that's the diagonal of the room) and the other one at 7m. I tried to look for a solution here, but seems like everybody gets a better distance.

I did an app with that tutorial and when measuring the distance it tells me that the one that is 0,2 m away is 1.6m away, the one that is 10m says is at 70-90 m away and the other at 7m is at 40-60m.

I thought it was due to the power of the signal, which I tried to change but it wasn't the solution, since it was broadcasting the maximum power.

Anybody with the same problem that found a solution?

I made a measurements with the app with the Android Beacon Library. The phone was 1m away from the phone, and I got the following results:

enter image description here

I cannot specify the RSSI value at 1 meter, I can only pick one of the Transmission power (dBm and distance). The following is how the beacon's settings (in the owner app) looks like: Beeks Toolkit App

I am using Beeks beacons from Bluvision.

According to the company: "The txPower calibration for Eddystone broadcasts is done internally by our beacons and SDKs. When configuring Eddystone broadcasts, the picked calibration value will automatically match the advertisement's transmission power."

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2389

Answers (1)

angst7
angst7

Reputation: 54

davidyoung is right. If you're using the Radbeacon dot, you can configure the advertised RSSI using the Radbeacon app (link is for the Android version).

With the app open, and the beacon on, hit scan. Once you see the beacon you want to calibrate, enable connections on the beacon (in the case of the Radbeacon dot, hold the button down for a couple seconds. The led will flash).

Tap on the beacon result in the app, and tap the menu icon in the top right. Select calibrate. Allow the calibrate function to run. If you are using Altbeacon or iBeacon frame types the phone should be 1 meter away. If you are using Eddystone the phone should be at 0 meters.

Note the RSSI value it returns, then tap back and enter that value in the Calibrated Power field. Save your changes, and you should be all set.

Make sure not to confuse the calibrate power value with the transmit power setting. Once you've set the calibrated power, if you change the transmit power you'll need to re-calibrate.

Also note that your distance values can vary quite a lot. Small rooms can complicate matters due to multi-pathing and other issues. You can experiment with various filtering methods, but the distances will rarely be spot-on.

Upvotes: 1

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