Investigation of Obstructions and Range Limit on Bluetooth Low Energy RSSI for the Healthcare Environment

Jay Pancham, Richard C. Millham, Simon James Fong

Abstract: Indoor Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) research identifies Bluetooth Low Energy as one of the technologies that promise an acceptable response to the requirements of the Healthcare environment. In this context, we investigate the latest improvements with Bluetooth 5.0 especially with regards its range when the signal penetrates through different types of multiple partitions. The improvements in Bluetooth technology especially with regards form factor, low energy consumption, and higher speeds make this a viable technology for use in indoor RTLS. Several different venues are used at the University to mimic the Healthcare environment to conduct the experiment. The results indicated an acceptable range through obstacles such glass, drywall partitions and solid brick wall. Future research will investigate methods to determine the position of Bluetooth Low Energy devices for the possible location of patients and assets.