Could you please explain how much the RSSI of estimote could be affected when placed next to WiFi access point?
I basically have three estimotes (placed on 3 walls) and one Wi-Fi access point (on top) in my room. One of the Estimotes is placed very close to the WiFi AP. I am finding very weird RSSI and distances (using Proximity based app). The reading are a little inconsistent (for example: at the same location: RSSI -79 and distance 1.62 and with next reading RSSI -90 and distance 4.01).
Is this inconsistency because of the WiFi AP and estimotes in close range? If that, what should be the ideal distance between estimotes and WiFi, and in between the estimotes too?
It’s unlikely the WiFi AP is causing the RSSI fluctuations. Rather, there’s this thing called “multi-path propagation”, which means that radio waves can travel multiple paths from the beacon to your phone, and depending on the path, the RSSI differs.
E.g., the -79 dBm RSSI is from a packet that went straight from the beacon to the phone. And the -90 might be a packet that bounced off the floor before reaching the phone, which means that some radio wave energy was absorbed during the “bounce”, but also the path was longer, so there was more energy lost on the way. Hence much lower RSSI, which leads to the phone “thinking” that the beacon is further away.
This is why you shouldn’t expect very accurate distance estimations from beacons. Focus more on general proximity to the beacon. If you need something more precise, that’s when our Location Beacons & Indoor Location come in. You can read more about “proximity vs location” in our blog post:
So, does this mean that I can consider the smallest RSSI (something like -56 and other values from that Estimote being -78, -67 etc )to the actual one?
