Bluetooth beacon is a small wireless transmitting device constructed of low-power Bluetooth (BLE) technology. It is usually powered by button battery and can be as small as 50 millimeter diameter and 10 millimeter thickness. The transmission power may range from -20 dBm to +4 dBm, and the coverage distance can be up to 70 meters. Its main function is to help smart devices achieve centimeter-level to meter-level accuracy in indoor positioning by sending one-of-a-kind identifiers (UUID) and broadcasting signals 1-10 times a second from time to time. For instance, Tokyo Haneda Airport deployed over 500 Bluetooth beacon, reducing passengers’ average navigation time by 40% and saving up to 1.2 million US dollars in operating expense annually.
For the retail sector, bluetooth beacon enhance conversion ratios by delivering real-time, push-based personalized promotional messages. According to Walmart’s pilot data, beacon-enabled shelves increased customers’ dwell time by 23%, and complementary product sales by 15% year-over-year. After 300 beacers were used by a luxury mall in Beijing, the member consumption frequency was enhanced from 1.2 times monthly to 1.8 times monthly, and the average value of annual transactions was enhanced by 12%. It is RSSI-based and trilateral positioning algorithm-based. The error in positioning is controlled at 1-3 meters, and the accuracy is 60% higher than the traditional Wi-Fi system.
Bluetooth beacons have solved the problem of positioning devices in medical settings. Mayo Clinic has improved the effectiveness of positioning medical devices by 90% by installing 1,200 beacons, reducing nurses’ wayfinding time by 30 minutes a day. Beacon batteries last for generally 2 to 5 years, and one device’s purchase price ranges from 10 to 50 US dollars. The return on investment in this can amount to 300%. For instance, the rate of equipment loss dropped from 8% per annum to 1.2% once Singapore General Hospital’s beacon system was implemented and it saved directly approximately 350,000 US dollars in replacement cost.
In the building of smart cities, Bluetooth beacons are integrated with 5G and IoT technology to create a high-density positioning network. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands pairs 5,000 beacon with its navigation system, increasing the rate of arrival of boarding gates for passengers by 18% and the rate of flight delays by 7%. Studies have shown that as the beacon signal is also affected by wall attenuation, the multi-path compensation algorithm can increase the stability of the positioning to 98.5%. Again, Google’s Eddystone protocol provides for simultaneous broadcasting of urls and sensor data from the beacons, increasing the user interaction time of museum guide systems by 22 minutes (for example, for the Museum of Modern Art in New York).
According to ABI Research’s projection, the global Bluetooth beacon market size will exceed 8 billion US dollars in 2025 with a compound annual growth rate of 29%. Its advantages of power efficiency (average power usage of 0.1 watts), high compatibility (support for over 95% of iOS/Android devices), and rapid deployment (single floor cycle <3 days) are transforming the asset management models of logistics and manufacturing sectors. For example, the DHL warehouse increased the productivity of counting inventories by 50% and reduced the level of human error to 0.3% using the beacon tracking system. Together with the popularization of the Bluetooth 5.3 standard, the broadcasting ability of the beacon has been enlarged from 31 bytes to 255 bytes, having more advanced indoor navigation logic and providing an important technical pivot for integrating the Metaverse into the real environment in the future.