Benchmark with 30cm secure localisation solution based on Bluetooth

It paves the way to increased data security in intuitive smart environments such as buildings, cars and cities. Todays localisation solutions merely use signal strength that limits the accuracy to 3-5m.

This accuracy can only support relaxed use-cases, such as proximity marketing in retail centers or rough positioning of objects. Until now accurate localisation and high security could only be achieved by using high-end solutions based on ultra-wideband (UWB) radios.

These are used in applications such as high precision track-and-trace and industrial applications. With imec’s solution, accurate localisation and high security is also supported using standard Bluetooth. While expensive UWB technology serves demanding applications, its cost prevents acceptance in high volume and cost sensitive products.

The superior performance of imec’s accurate ranging is demonstrated on commercial chips, both for Bluetooth and IEEE802.15.4, showing the versatility of the solution to work on narrowband radios of various standards and manufacturers.

The highly efficient imec solution needs less than 32kB of ROM and 64kB of RAM on an ARM CortexTM M4F device with less than 50msec per measurement when running at 120MHz. The imec phase-based solution is extremely robust for multipath reflections, which are typically a challenge for RSSI based solutions operating in indoor environments.

“By leveraging the pervasiveness of Bluetooth in smartphones and other mobile devices, imec’s technology delivers affordable yet very accurate and reliable localisation for numerous new IoT applications”, stated Kathleen Philips, IoT director at imec. “Together with our industrial partners, we are working on bringing this technology into a next version of the Bluetooth standard.” 

Combining the best of both worlds with imec’s secure proximity technology; high volume and cost-efficient radio technology, and a high level of accuracy and data security. The new solution enables the use of standard Bluetooth transceivers to measure the distance between two devices.

It is furthermore protected against spoofing by creating a secure channel between two authenticated devices, developed together with the renowned COSIC security solutions team of KU Leuven.

"Location spoofing is an underestimated problem, that has moved from an academic research topic to a realistic threat in the field,” said Bart Preneel, head of the imec-COSIC research group at the KU Leuven. "Fortunately, our early research in this area is paying off: in collaboration with imec it has resulted in practical solutions."

Imec’s secure proximity technology is suitable for intuitive, yet secure, building access and car entry. It also enables new location-based data access services where accuracy and security are paramount in view of privacy, such as in hospitals where a patient’s record is pulled up automatically as the doctor approaches the patient’s bed.

This new technology from imec is now available for commercial applications, for licensing and further development towards specific application requirements of our partners.