Indoor Navigation and Location-Based Narration System using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons

With the huge advances in the field of wireless communication technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon has attracted attention to provide a variety of services. Services like public safety, healthcare, mobile payment, asset tracking and proximity-based service have been proposed using beacon technology. Most of all, navigation system using BLE beacon is an effective approach to provide information about the culture and history of a particular spot to a tourist. In this paper, we suggest a tourist information system with an integrated feature of route finding for the user to the desired destination. It can deliver location based narrations to the visitors, thus providing navigation and interactive learning. Narration starts automatically at the right places without any effort on the behalf of the visitors. Instead of using satellites to triangulate our position in the world as GPS does, beacons transmit a low energy signal from a device with a radius of 50-100 meters to provide unprecedented location services. A Beacon’s transmitting range can be configured to trigger messages at the most appropriate distance. Each beacon is given a unique identifier. When a user’s device enters the beacon area, the audio corresponding to this unique identifier will be played.