Qualcomm is making a big play in the fashionable area of Bluetooth beacons, which have most commonly been used to support micro-location services in retail stores. Last week it announced it had spun off its Gimbal beacon technology into a separate company and secured investment to expand it. This week it adds that it it pushing beacons as part of future 3GPP standards for indoor location.
The chip giant is working with the US Department of Commerce and other interested parties on a proposed 3GPP study, which will explore how beacons might improve the accuracy of indoor location tracking. This remains a weakness for many cellular systems, partly because of poor GPS performance inside buildings. Remedies include small cells, or integrated solutions in unlicensed spectrum based on Wi-Fi or, for greater accuracy, short-range Bluetooth.
But the issue becomes critical when it relates to emergency services. In February, the FCC said it was considering proposed changes to the E911 rules to include location accuracy, especially in challenging indoor environments such as tower blocks, where it can be hard for emergency responders to identify where a call originated.
In a letter to the FCC, Qualcomm said it would be premature for the regulator to change its E911 accuracy rules in a way that might compel the use of a technology that is not yet “fully developed, rigorously tested, and proven’. It wants the FCC to wait for the results of the 3GPP study into the use of terrestrial beacon systems (TBS) as a complement to other methods.
According to the 3GPP work item description, TBS consist of a network of terrestrial beacons broadcasting signals for positioning purposes. They may use dedicated or shared spectrum including licensed FDD or TDD bands.
“This ongoing technical research and development is not triggered by any commission proposal, but rather reflects the industry’s ongoing focus on the ability of new air interfaces, notably LTE, and existing air interfaces not currently used for E911, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, to deliver more accurate position location information,” said the filing.
“Ongoing enhancements to the US FCC Enhanced 911 capability are focusing on in-building positioning and will require augmented capabilities that are not currently available in 3GPP,” it added.