Space Occupancy through BLE Dynamic Broadcasting

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) merges different technologies to provide the needed infrastructure for an adequate inter-device connection and data exchange, with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) being one of the latest acquisitions. The use of BLE beacons offers a straightforward approach to broadcast information to any device being in the coverage zone and able to process such signal. Instead of this static solution, in this paper, we face an alternative approach that, combining both Wi-Fi and BLE beacon technologies, is able to dynamically adapt the information being broadcast depending on the particular devices in the coverage area. Taking advantage of the beacon device communications, we propose to monitor the space occupancy throughout the study area (typically inside a building) by following the beacon device data exchange. This information would be later used to improve space analysis. As a proof of concept, we have conducted an experiment inside a faculty to check the potentiality of the proposal, obtaining promising results.