u-blox Releases Two Bluetooth AoA Explorer Kits for High Precision Indoor Positioning
July 07, 2021
News
u-blox announced the release of two "explorer kits" aimed at allowing product developers the ability to evaluate the potential of Bluetooth direction finding and high precision indoor positioning.
The u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 offers all the required modules to evaluate AoA technology. Functions include detecting whether a person or an object is approaching a door, avoiding collisions between moving objects, and directing a camera at a moving tag.
The kits comprise of four u-blox C211 antenna boards, four u-blox C209 tags, and the required software to leverage AoA technology for diverse applications.
The u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 and XPLR-AOA-2 explorer kits is one of the first complete Bluetooth-based tracking solutions. They can track from the tag to the cloud and able to reliably offer sub-meter-level precision in indoor environments.
Designed for low power consumption, simple deployment, and low cost of ownership, the u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 and XPLR-AOA-2 explorer kits make it simpler to test the technology's capability:
- access control
- collision detection
- smart appliances
- indoor positioning
- asset tracking.
Both explorer kits use the u-blox NINA-B4 Bluetooth 5.1 low energy module featuring Nordic Semiconductor's nRF52833 Bluetooth® Low Energy System-on-Chip (SoC).
Running on the SoC's embedded MCU, u-blox u-connectLocate software calculates the angles of the incoming signals with no additional processing required. In the case of the XPLR-AOA-2, a positioning engine software is included to triangulate the position of the tag.
Bluetooth direction finding makes it feasible to verify the direction the radio signals are traveling from a mobile tag to one, or several, fixed anchor points. Using angle-of-arrival (AoA) technology, anchor points comprising of an antenna array is connected to a Bluetooth receiver and detects the direction, or angle, to the mobile tag, which then transmits a Bluetooth signal. When multi-antenna anchors are deployed, AoA technology can be used to zero in on the precise location of a mobile device or tag.
u-blox is collaborating with Traxmate, to offer a hardware-agnostic, cloud-based tracking system that makes it easier to set up the tracking environment, create buildings, upload floor plans, and specify the placement of the anchor points.
For more information, visit: u‑blox.com.
Chad Cox is the Production Editor at Embedded Computing Design. His responsibilities are centered around content creation, writing and editing, and article research and development. Chad covers industry news and events and is known to interact with various industrial leaders via on-premise visits and online interviews. He is responsible for the digital footprint and dissemination of news via social media posts, advertising creation and the production of newsletters including the Embedded Computing Design’s Daily.
He is well versed in many facets of industrial computing including Edge AI, IoT, Processing, Security, Open Source, and more.
Chad graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in Cultural and Analytical Literature and holds a master’s in education.
