Robust Indoor Distance Estimation Algorithms for Bluetooth® Channel Sounding

Bluetooth Channel Sounding is a positioning feature for fine ranging that allows estimating the distance between connected devices through precise and secure measurements. Depending on design capabilities, environment conditions, and the distance estimation algorithm chosen, the accuracy of Bluetooth Channel Sounding can be as good as 0.25 m at short distances and sub-meter for longer distances, which is adequate for the needs of applications like car access, home automation, asset tracking, and location-based services. Bluetooth Channel Sounding is a powerful feature setting a clear and solid foundation for standardized and efficient ranging. Purposefully, the Bluetooth SIG makes no recommendations for the selection or implementation of distance estimation algorithms in order to provide developers the flexibility to pick a solution optimized for their use case, with the implicit tradeoffs in performance, computational requirements, and measurement speed. In this presentation, we dive into the topic of distance estimation algorithms for Bluetooth Channel Sounding. First, we provide a high-level overview of algorithms available and how they work. Then, we discuss some of the parameters and variables that impact their performance. Next, we present experimental results for a suite of algorithms implemented by Infineon in hardware and characterized by their accuracy, robustness, and computational efficiency. Finally, we talk briefly about algorithms suitable for scenarios with multiple Bluetooth devices present, summarizing their advantages and limitations in various scenarios, and discussing how can they combine to achieve higher accuracy and robustness for distance estimation.

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