Development of smartphone based indoor navigation system using BLE nodes for the workforce in industry 4.0 through a digital map interface

Abstract

Industry 4.0, often known as the fourth industrial revolution, is the fourth version of the industrial revolution. Through the emergent and disruptive intelligence and information technologies, Industry 4.0 is increasingly being advocated as the way to improve productivity, foster economic growth, and ensure the sustainability of industrial enterprises. The workforce in the Industry 4.0 needs easy indoor navigation. This is inevitable in the case of a large industry. Contribution to this we have developed a smartphone-based system to help the workforce not get lost or waste time by providing them with a total overview of the factory on a digital map. The developed system provides workforce-friendly indoor navigation. In this work, we have developed an android application with a digital map interface for indoor navigation based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE) nodes. The system uses the trilateration technique for position estimation using the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) from BLE nodes. The shortest path from source to destination is calculated using Dijkstra's algorithm. The developed system can be used for the workforce in Industry 4.0 such as logistics, smart buildings, smart healthcare, and even smart urban governance by the various parties involved. The system was developed for the employees in the Muthoot Institute of Science and Technology.