Angle Of Arrival (AoA) and Bluetooth Beacons RTLS Application

What is Angle of Arrival (AoA)

What exactly is the Angle Of Arrival? Why is this becoming more popular, particularly in smaller applications such as Nurse Call System? It was formerly solely used to track the position of aeroplanes but now more systems are being developed using this technology.

The angle between the line of sight between the beacon and the receiver and the plane of the signal is known as the Angle of Arrival. Abbreviated as AOA, the Reference and the Estimated AOA are the two most prevalent forms of Angle of Arrival. 

In Electronic world, wireless communication devices are used to achive the AOA, for instance Bluetooth technology is most widely used. Because signal strength decreases down with the inverse square of distance, the BLE radio estimates an angle based on signal strength and utilises that angle to determine distance. 

This is also known as the highest angle made by a receiving antenna with the incoming signal. So basically, there will be a receiving hardware such as the Anchors, and a transmitting signal from the BLE tags that are estimated and graphed by a computer application to get the so called Angle of Arrival.

AoA Applications that are Useful in Nurse Call Systems

The location information returned to beacons or anchors has been more accurate thanks to the latest Bluetooth update's better service.

Despite the success of Bluetooth location services, there is now a desire for solutions that can give higher efficiency. Some real-time location services (RTLS) implementations, for example, need centimetre precision. Fortunately, the new Bluetooth standard just includes a beneficial new function to satisfy these criteria.

Today, RTLS users are on the rise, particularly in hospitals and aged care facilities with dementia patients. The nurse call system is gated to alert nurses if there are patients who require intensive care. This makes it easier to provide care to patients because nurses and other personnel will be notified as soon as the patient rises and leaves their room.