Smallest Bluetooth AoA antenna board for commercial tracking solutions

u-blox has released the ANT-B11 compact antenna board. By incorporating Bluetooth technology with the company's unique expertise, this board provides high-precision direction finding and 2D indoor positioning. It can be incorporated into commercial tracking solutions, ideally suited for direction-finding applications and indoor positioning in mid-size spaces.

The board launched early in the year, contributing to solving the ongoing indoor location challenge, where technologies such as GNSS find difficulties in functioning effectively. The device is provided with the company's NINA-B411 Bluetooth 5.1 module and runs the u-connectLocate software, which executes the unique angle calculation algorithm. It functions as an indoor AoA anchor point with an application board. The angle calculated by the antenna board does not require any additional processing; thus, it is ready for use at the application level.

Depending on its orientation, the board outputs the final azimuth or elevation angle with high accuracy in fractions of a second. With this information, it can track assets and plot positions in applications aiming at 2D visualisation. For 3D visualisation, its customers can keep relying on ANT-B10.

It combines the accuracy of ANT-B10 with the smallest possible package. Thanks to its 29.5mm x 93.5 mm compact size, it easily fits current enclosures or casings. Also, one main challenge in the positioning industry is to deliver affordable indoor solutions. With this unique technology, indoor positioning systems with high precision at a reasonable cost are a reality.

This product can thrive in any direction-finding application. It can be employed to follow assets in indoor areas, grant building access, and avoid collisions, making it perfect for industrial, retail, and medical environments. It can also be used in indoor spaces for positioning purposes, wherein showing the location of an asset in 2D may suffice.

"ANT-B11 is the smallest Bluetooth AoA antenna board in production. A perfect building block for indoor position infrastructure, highly reliable and affordable," says Giorgos Marakis, Product Strategy, Short Range Radio, at u-blox.