Mobile devices can approximate their distance to Estimote Beacons based on received signal strength. However, distance readings are prone to fluctuation because they depend on a number of external factors. Radio waves are susceptible to multipath propagation, diffraction, absorption or interference. Phone’s and beacon’s antenna orientation and beacon’s settings also have an impact.
In general, the closer you are to a beacon the more accurate the reported distance. Because of the factors mentioned above, it’s not possible to provide specific numbers for accuracy. On average, the measurement error can be 20-30% of the actual distance. You can increase signal reliability by increasing the Broadcasting Power and lowering the Advertising Interval of a beacon.
In order to estimate the distance, we use a value called RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) and a factory calibrated constant called Measured Power, which is the RSSI we expect at 1 meter distance. If you want to learn more, read our blog post:
How do beacons work? The physics of beacon tech
Estimote Indoor Location
Because of the fluctuations, indoor positioning based on beacons requires a lot of work on noise reduction. We’ve built a product that takes care of this for you.
Estimote Indoor Location SDK is a set of tools for building precise, blue-dot location services indoors. It uses a set of sophisticated algorithms to provide indoor positioning with beacons and accuracy of 1 to 4 meters depending on location size.
To learn more about Estimote Indoor Location: