u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 and XPLR-AOA-2 explorer kits

u-blox has announced two explorer kits aimed at letting product developers evaluate the potential of Bluetooth direction finding and indoor positioning. Designed for low power consumption and simple deployment, the u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 and XPLR-AOA-2 explorer kits make it easy to test the technology’s capabilities to enable a variety of applications including access control, collision detection, smart appliances, indoor positioning and asset tracking. The kits are said to showcase one of the first complete Bluetooth-based tracking solutions — from the tag to the cloud — to offer sub-metre-level accuracy in indoor environments.

Bluetooth direction finding makes it possible to determine the direction that radio signals travel from a mobile tag to one or several fixed anchor points. Using angle-of-arrival (AoA) technology, anchor points comprising an antenna array that is connected to a Bluetooth receiver can detect the direction, or angle, to the mobile tag, which transmits a Bluetooth signal. When a constellation of such multi-antenna anchors is deployed, AoA technology can be used to triangulate the precise location of a mobile device or tag.

Comprising a u-blox C211 antenna board and a u-blox C209 tag, as well as the necessary software, the u-blox XPLR-AOA-1 offers all the required components to evaluate AoA technology. Applications 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 u-blox XPLR-AOA-2 demonstrates the u-blox indoor position proof of concept built around Bluetooth direction finding. The kit comprises four u-blox C211 antenna boards, four u-blox C209 tags and all the software required to leverage AoA technology for diverse applications.

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, positioning engine software is included to triangulate the position of the tag.