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Generate Beacon Placement Plan (Indoor Positioning Tools)

Summary

Generates an optimized beacon placement plan by creating point features in an IPS Beacons feature class, ensuring sufficient coverage and spatial distribution with the minimum number of beacons required to enable indoor positioning with ArcGIS IPS.

Usage

  • The tool generates beacon features in the IPS Beacons feature class, specified in the Target IPS Beacons Features parameter, which is a point feature class in the ArcGIS IPS Information Model.

    • If the Target IPS Beacons Features class contains existing beacon features, the tool adds new features if needed, to ensure sufficient BLE beacon signal coverage within the specified IPS Area.
    Note:

    If existing beacons are mounted higher than 4 meters (13 feet), the tool may not produce a beacon placement plan that provides the optimal indoor positioning experience. A maximum height of 3–4 meters (10–13 feet) is recommended for optimal indoor positioning.

  • The tool uses the Wall Features parameter value to determine which wall segments are deployable and places beacons on those segments. The tool outputs these segments as the Derived Deployable Surfaces feature class. A wall segment is considered deployable if it meets all the following criteria:

    • It is an edge of a wall polygon feature.

    • Its distance to the nearest IPS Area feature is less than 1 meter (3.2 feet).

    • It is oriented toward the IPS Area.

    • No other wall segment lies between it and the nearest IPS Area feature.

  • The Level Features parameter value must be a polygon layer that represents the footprint of each level contained in the facility. This value can be a feature layer that conforms to the Levels feature class in the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model. The selected layer must contain LEVEL_ID, VERTICAL_ORDER, and FACILITY_ID fields.

  • The IPS Area Features parameter value must be a polygon layer that represents the indoor areas that are covered by the BLE beacon radio signals. The IPS Area Features parameter value in the selected layer is only valid if it meets the following conditions:

    • The layer must contain a LEVEL_ID field.

    • The layer must share a LEVEL_ID field value with one of the features selected for the Level Features parameter.

    • The LEVEL_ID field value must not be Null.

    • The geometry of the IPS Area Features value must be contained within the corresponding level feature.

  • The Wall Features parameter value must be a feature layer or a feature class representing as accurately as possible the physical extent of the walls in the facilities where ArcGIS IPS is deployed. These features can be extracted from an existing ArcGIS Indoors Information Model. The schema of the Wall Features parameter value must include all the attributes required for floor awareness. The following conditions must be met:

    • The wall must be associated with an existing level using the LEVEL_ID attribute.

    • The LEVEL_ID attribute must not be NULL.

    • The geometry of the wall feature must be contained within the corresponding level feature.

    Note:

    If a beacon can be mounted on a pillar or column, make sure it is included in the Wall Features parameter value.

  • The RSSI at 1 meter (3.2 feet) parameter value represents the Received Signal Strength Indicator at a one meter distance. The tool calculates the optimal placement of BLE beacons based on that specified value, which is used to estimate the signal coverage and strength from a beacon at a specific distance.

    • The RSSI at 1 meter (3.2 feet) value should correspond to the actual configuration of your BLE beacons.

    • The value must be an integer value from -69 through -85.

    • The default value is -81, which corresponds to the default value recommended for the indoor spaces.

    Note:

    The RSSI at 1 meter (3.2 feet) value is programmed into the beacon’s advertising packet. The expected RSSI at 1 meter (3.2 feet) value can be obtained from the beacon vendor’s website or the manufacturer's beacon configuration app.

  • If the required signal coverage cannot be achieved for the input data, the beacon placement plan will not generate. In that case, the tool creates a Uncovered_IPS_Area feature class, which represents areas not covered by the BLE signals based on the specified RSSI at 1 meter value.

    • This occurs when there are insufficient wall segments to support beacon placement, or when the IPS area is too large or too wide to be fully covered by the available mounting surfaces for the specified RSSI at 1 meter value. Verify that sufficient wall segments are available near the IPS area, or consider adjusting the beacon configuration and increasing the RSSI value.
    Caution:

    This tool modifies the input data.

    Learn more about tools that modify or update the input data.

Parameters

Label Explanation Data type

Target IPS Beacons Features

The feature class where the new generated IPS Beacons Features will be stored. If there are existing IPS Beacons Features stored, these will be preserved as is.

Feature Layer

Level Features

The polygon features representing Level footprints within the facilities.

Feature Layer

IPS Area Features

The polygon features representing the area where IPS is enabled.

Feature Layer

Wall Features

The polygon features representing the physical extent of walls.

Feature Layer

RSSI at 1 meter (3.2 feet)

The Received Signal Strength Indicator at 1 meter distance. The value must be from -69 through -85.

Long

Derived output

Label Explanation Data type

Updated IPS Beacon Features

The updated feature class that contains the new IPS Beacons Features.

Feature Layer

Derived Deployable Surfaces

The polyline features representing the segments on which beacons can be mounted.

Feature Layer

Environments

Parallel Processing Factor

Licensing information

  • Basic: No
  • Standard: Requires ArcGIS IPS
  • Advanced: Requires ArcGIS IPS